The Tigers withstand a sloppy second half to top Winthrop.
By Kevin Mills
Staff Writer

WINTHROP – Chris Bessey tried to warn them.

With a comfortable 31-13 halftime lead, the Jay girls’ basketball coach tried to keep his team from resting on its first half laurels.

“I told them in the locker room that the game wasn’t over,” said Bessey. “That Winthrop team is better than what they showed in the first half. They were going to pick up their intensity, and we had to make sure we picked up ours, and we didn’t. That was indicative of the second half.”

The Tigers lead wasn’t so commanding after all, and the Ramblers made a late charge only to fall short as Jay survived with a 54-46 win.

“It’s a big win,” said Bessey. “It’s disappointing to have a letdown like that in the second half. When you have a young team, you could see a lot of teams fold and end up coming out of here with a loss. A positive aspect is we didn’t fold. We did the things that we needed to do to keep the lead and come out of here with a victory.”

After a slow start offensively, the Ramblers made of game of it with a strong second half. Winthrop got as close as five points in the final quarter but some late free throws thwarted the rally.

“We ran out of time,” said Winthrop coach Lonney Steeves. “We were getting the ball in places we wanted. We had them in foul trouble. We were getting great efforts from every kid I threw in there.”

Jay’s Kaylie DeMillo led all scorers with 22 points while Heather Johnson added 13 for the Tigers (7-2). The Ramblers (2-7) got 12 each from Katie Pushard and Emilie Knight. Nicki Emery chipped in eight.

Jay didn’t play as aggressive in the third quarter as it did in the first half. Slowly but surely, Winthrop managed to work its way back. The Ramblers finished the third quarter with a 7-1 run to get within 38-29. Free throws by Johnson and Angela Courchesney helped bump the lead back up to 12 but back-to-back buckets by Knight cut the lead to eight with 5:24 left.

DeMillo drilled a critical three-pointer to pump the lead back to 11 with 5:05 left.

“We didn’t get consistent stops, on DeMillo in particular,” said Steeves. “She got some good open shots. We started to make a little run there, and then she hit that shot.”

A rebound by Pushard, two free throws by Emery and a rebound by Knight got Winthrop within 47-42 with 1:47 left. That would be the last run for the Ramblers. DeMillo and Katie Mastine each hit pairs of free throws to bolster the lead in the final minute.

Jay had burst out to a 17-6 lead in the opening quarter as Winthrop struggled offensively. The Ramblers turned the ball over 13 times. As easy as the Tigers scored at times with Johnson and DeMillo creating quality shots, the Ramblers found it difficult to produce. After an 8-0 run to finish the first, Jay had the lead up to 31-13 at the half. Winthrop, however, managed to settle in and bring its offense to life in the second half while the Tigers became stagnant in the third.

“We slowed down a little bit,” said Steeves. “We were trying to go a little too fast in the first half. We gained some confidence and put the ball in some good places. We made a couple of shots. A lot of kids stepped up and played really well.”