By Cort Reynolds
ADA - Visiting Paulding ran out to a big early lead and went on to defeat Ada 80-39 in a Northwest Conference girls basketball contest Thursday night.
Lady Panther senior wing Chelsi Giesige poured in 30 points to pace her team to victory. She scored nine first-period points, while junior wing Jalynn Parrett connected on four baskets to lead Paulding to a commanding 28-8 lead after just one quarter.
The Bulldog girls dropped to 6-13 overall and 0-6 in the NWC with the defeat. Meanwhile, the Lady Panthers improved to 16-3 and 5-2 in the NWC with the win.
"Paulding really pushed the ball and ran a lot of subs in and out," said Lady Bulldog second-year head coach Morgan Bass. "We only play about six players (due to injury).
"But we didn't take good care of the ball, and we did not play good defense," she added.
Hard-working Wills scored six of the eight Lady Bulldog first period points. Her two foul shots cut it to 33-12 early in the second stanza.
Talented Ada freshman guard Courtney Sumner banked in a one-footed runner from the left side, and Wills added a free throw to inch within 33-15. But the scrappy Bulldogs could get no closer than 18 points the remainder of the game.
Yet the hard-charging Giesige canned a pull-up shot in the lane, then netted a fast break layup. Wills sank a southpaw stickback to make it 37-17. Audrey Giesige canned a lefty layin, and two Janae Pease foul shots made it 41-17.
Sumner and Wills each canned a free toss, but Paulding ran off the last five points of the half to lead 46-19 at intermission.
Sumner knocked down a one-footed lane floater off glass to open the second half. Chelsi Giesige sank a follow shot, followed by a left-handed putback layup from Wills.
Giesige hit a driving layup, then fed Parrett a slick behind the back pass in transition for another layin. Sydney McCullough drained a right wing triple to extend the Panther margin to 55-23.
Sumner responded with a trey from out top at the three-minute mark. Yet Pease answered with a trifecta of her own from beyond the top of the key.
Audrey Giesige hit a transition layup to cap a 13-3 flurry. Ada sophomore Kirsten Poling canned a 10-footer off the right baseline, and Sumner splashed a left elbow jumper to cut the deficit to 61-30 after three quarters of play.
Parrett opened the final stanza by burying a left wing triple. Chelsi Giesige finished a fast break before the acrobatic Sumner drained a lane runner.
Chelsi G. converted an offensive rebound basket, then made a lefty layup. Freshman Carlea Kuckuck scored inside before Wills made a lefty layup off a fine one-handed slap steal/pass from Sumner.
Chelsi Giesige continued her onslaught by drilling a triple from out top. Ada then scored five unanswered points to make it 77-39. Poling canned a free throw, followed by a driving layin from Wills and a Sumner fast break banker.
Panther guard Maggie Manz splashed a left wing trey in the last 30 seconds to close the scoring and provide the final margin of 41.
Parrett scored 15 points on seven baskets, and Pease added 10 markers as the other two Panthers in double figures. In all, eight Paulding players scored.
Playmaker Sumner topped Ada with 18 points, while Wills added 16 markers. The duo combined to tally 34 of the 39 Bulldog points.
"I thought Miranda Wills played well, and Courtney did pretty well too," Bass noted.
Bulldog junior post Megan Light broke her right hand in the previous contest at USV Tuesday and missed the Paulding game. She is out for the season.
The Ada girls sank 15 floor shots, including 14 two-point goals and one from three-point range. The Lady Bulldogs converted eight of 19 from the charity stripe (42 percent).
The fast-paced Lady Panthers made 25 two-point baskets and sank eight three-pointers for a total of 33 field goals. Paulding converted six of nine at the foul line (67 percent).
Paulding 80 (16-3, 5-2 NWC)
Parrett 7 0-0 15, McCullough 1 1-2 4, Pease 3 2-2 10, Egnor 2 2-4 7, C. Giesige 14 0-0 30, A. Giesige 3 1-1 7, Kuckuck 2 0-0 4, Manz 1 0-0 3.
Totals: 33/6-9/80. 3-pointers: C. Giesige 2, Pease 2, Parrett 1, McCullough 1, Manz 1, Egnor 1.
Ada 39 (6-13, 0-6 NWC)
Sumner 8 1-3 18, Poling 1 1-6 3, Acheson 0, Waugh 1 0-0 2, Wills 5 6-10 16, Jordan 0.
Totals: 15/8-19/39. 3-pointer: Sumner 1.
1 2 3 4 F
Pau 28 18 15 19 80
Ada 8 11 11 9 39
Ada (2-7 home) hosts solid Spencerville in a league battle Thursday, February 6. It will be the final home game of the season for the Bulldog girls.
The Lady Bearcats (11-7, 4-2 NWC) easily beat Allen East 73-39 Jan. 30.
The Div. IV girls sectional drawings will be held this Sunday, Feb. 2.
