By Cort Reynolds
BATH - Fourth seed New Knoxville defeated Ada 55-14 in Div. IV first round sectional girls basketball play Wednesday evening at Bath.
With the loss, the 10th-seeded Lady Bulldogs finished their campaign 7-16 overall, a six-game improvement over last season. Meanwhile, NK improved to 16-7 with the convincing win.
The Rangers advance to the sectional finals Saturday, Feb. 22 at Bath vs. Midwest Athletic Conference foe New Bremen (14-9). The Rangers won their previous league meeting in a defensive battle, 34-26.
"I was proud of our girls for fighting clear until the end of the final buzzer," said Ada second-year head coach Morgan Bass.
"I am excited to have everyone back yet again next season," she added.
NK led 15-4 after the first period as Ada junior post Miranda Wills made the lone Bulldog field goal and converted one free throw. Sophomore guard Kirsten Poling added the other Ada point on a foul shot.
The Lady Rangers broke it open with a 12-0 run to open the second stanza. Junior guard Morgan Leffel tallied eight points in the run, while senior forward Megan Jurosic hit a tough follow shot to cap the spurt.
Ada freshman playmaker Courtney Sumner was fouled shooting a corner triple and sank two free throws to stop the flurry.
Ranger sophomore Ellie Gabel scored inside with a southpaw layin after a long NK possession. Gabel then got a good bounce on a short shot to extend the lead to 31-6 a minute before the break, and it stayed that way into halftime.
Cold-shooting Ada connected on just one of its 21 first half field goal tries. NK sank 14 of 27 shots over the first two quarters, including 12 of 19 inside the arc.
Jacklyn Leffel started the second half with the hot hand, hitting two triples as the Ranger girls extended the lead to 40-6. Ada junior Alexis Waugh sank a basket, followed by a Jurosic field goal.
Sumner hit a two-pointer for Ada. Haley Fledderjohan then canned a trifecta to advance the lead to 45-10 and invoke the 35-point margin tournament running-clock rule.
Sumner converted a pair at the charity stripe to end the quarter.
Jacklyn Leffel canned two free throws and drilled her fourth trey. Morgan Leffel scored inside after a deliberate possession, then subbed out.
Rebecca Leffel drained a three over the Ada zone to make NK six for eight from beyond the arc in the second half.
Sumner stole the ball and drove in for a layup to provide the final points of the Bulldog season.
Sumner netted eight points to lead Ada. Morgan and Jacklyn Leffel each tallied 14 to lead NK, while Jurosic added 10.
Ada canned four of 35 field goal attempts overall (11 percent). They sank four of 25 inside the arc (16 percent) and made zero of 10 triple tries. The Bulldogs girls converted six of 11 foul shots (55 percent).
The Ranger girls made 22 of 43 field goals (51 percent), and sank 14 of 27 (52 percent) from inside the arc. On three-pointers, NK sank eight of 16 (50 percent). The Rangers converted three of their five free throws (60 percent).
NK out-rebounded Ada, 30-20. The Bulldogs committed 16 turnovers compared to eight by the Ranger girls.
The Bulldogs went 2-1 in neutral site games this season. They finished 2-8 at home and 3-7 in road games.
Ada 14 (7-16)
Sumner 2 4-5 8, Poling 0 1-2 1, Jordan 0, Acheson 0, Waugh 1 0-0 2, Wills 1 1-4 3, Cortez 0, Dirmeyer 0.
Totals: 4-35/6-11/14. 3-pointers (0-10): none.
NK 55 (16-7)
M. Leffel 6 0-0 14, Gabel 2 1-2 5, J. Leffel 4 2-3 14, T. Neuman 1 0-0 2, Jurosic 5 0-0 10, Henschen 0, H. Fledderjohann 2 0-0 5, C. Fledderjohann 1 0-0 2, R. Leffel 1 0-0 3, Waterman 0.
Totals: 22-43/3-5/55. 3-pointers (8-16): J. Leffel 4, M. Leffel 2, H. Fledderjohann 1, R. Leffel 1.
1 2 3 4 F
Ada 4 2 6 2 14
NK 15 16 14 10 55
