Jennings County was holding a 42-41 lead early in the fourth quarter Saturday afternoon against Trinity Lutheran’s girls when Sydney Jaynes decided to take matters into her own hands.
The 6-foot-3-inch junior scored Trinity’s next eight points to put the Cougars on top for good on the way to a 55-50 win in the Bollinger Athletic Complex.
Jaynes scored 10 of her game-high 24 points in the fourth quarter as the Cougars won their seventh straight game.
Trinity coach Mike Lang was pleased with the way the Cougars held their composure.
“We distributed the ball a little bit. We ran our offense,” he said. “When they came back and took the lead, we didn’t get rattled. We persevered. We battled back. Even though it was tied, I thought we pretty much controlled the game. We were able to get what we wanted on the offensive end, so I was happy.
“They knew where the strengths were going to be on the offensive end,” he continued. “Bailey (Tabeling) was able to attack and get loose a couple of times. We got Syd down low.”
Lang said he would like to see the Cougars take better care of the basketball as they committed five of their 12 turnovers in the second period.
“When you face good guards that are very fast and put a lot of pressure on you, their tempo created (turnovers),” he said. “I thought we did a better job handling tempo in the second half. We got out of rhythm in the first, and that is the sign of a good-coached team that they have at Jennings County, and their guards can play.”
The Cougars (21-2) held a 7-4 lead early when they went on a 12-0 run. Jaynes began the rally with a 3-point play and hit a 3-pointer with three minutes left in the quarter for a 19-4 lead.
The Panthers, sparked by 3-pointers by Kali Thompson and Adyson Kent, closed the quarter on an 8-2 run for a 21-12 score.
The Panthers remained hot at the start of the second period to move on top 22-21 with 3:30 on the clock. Jaynes made a pair of free throws and a basket in the final three minutes to help Trinity take a 27-24 lead at the half.
After Jennings moved on top 30-29 at the start of the third period, Tabeling hit a 3-pointer at the 3:30 mark to put the Cougars on top 37-30, and she drove for a layup late in the period to give her team a 41-38 lead going into the final period.
Lang said he felt like the Cougars did a good job of contesting Jennings’ shots.
“I think a big part of the game was the way Hannah (Sabotin) defended Kent from the third quarter on,” he said.
Tabeling finished with 14 points, Sabotin scored 10 and had a team-high eight rebounds, Emma Goecker scored four and Kailene Cockerham scored three.
Kent was high scorer for Jennings (7-14) with 20 points.
Jennings was the second Hoosier Hills Conference team the Cougars beat last week after knocking off Floyd Central on Thursday night. The Cougars will face another HHC team Thursday when they travel to Madison.
“You look at our schedule and where we’ve been, we’ve played two 4A schools, a 3A school and coming up with another solid 3A school heading into the tournament,” Lang said. “I’m really happy with where we’re at.”
Jennings won the junior varsity game 41-29. Katelyn Schepman was high scorer for Trinity with 13 points, Kathryn Whitmore scored seven, Hannah Durham three and Kayla Goecker, Emma Schepman and Genesis Munoz two each.