By Cort Reynolds
ADA__The short-handed Ada High School girls basketball team lost 47-22 to hard-pressing Perry Saturday afternoon, December 9.
Full-court pressure by the visiting Commodores for four quarters helped force 30 turnovers and wore down the Bulldog girls, who were without starting point guard Olivia Burkhart and center Anna Conley due to illness.
A pair of big runs by Perry to start the third and fourth quarters sealed the outcome.
Ada battled but fell to 3-3 overall with the non-league loss. The Perry girls improved to 3-2 with the win.
“We had to rely on three freshmen to play key minutes and fill spots without Olivia and Anna,” said Ada head coach Zach Ricker. “I thought we played hard and gave it all we had, we were just short-handed.”
The Commodores jumped ahead 7-2 and never trailed. Ada scrapped back behind two layups by speedy Mariah King, and a driving banker by Lexi Poling.
Bulldog senior Autumn Andreasen sank a layin to inch within 9-8 with 44 seconds left in the first period.
But Perry sophomore guard Khaliah Luster sank the second of her two triples to give the visitors a 12-8 lead after the opening stanza.
The Bulldogs turned the ball over on their first six possessions of the second stanza, yet stayed in the game by hustling hard. Perry’s Mary Hoersten swished a high-arching left wing trey for the only points by either team over the first 4:40 of the period.
Ada freshman guard Jaylin St. Laurent broke the drought by hitting a 14-footer at the 3:20 mark.
Perry led 16-10 at intermission after the low-scoring 4-2 stanza.
The Commodores put on a 9-0 run to open the second half and take control of the game. Two layups by Zyasija Scott started the flurry, and when the dust cleared it was 25-10.
Bulldog senior Katie Sizemore stopped the run by hitting two foul shots with 2:34 left in the third quarter. Poling canned a foul shot and later fed Sizemore for a six-footer.
But another Scott layin ended the 13-5 Perry period with the visitors on top, 29-15.
A 12-0 spurt to start the final stanza ballooned the Commodore lead to 41-15. Four points by Luster started the surge, and three layups in a row by Miauni Hall ended the run.
The scrappy Poling sank a trey from the top of the key to stop the flurry with 4:33 remaining. Freshman Kenley Poling then bounced in a 12-footer.
Freshman Taylor Price drained a right elbow 15-footer to close the Ada scoring with a 25-point deficit.
Junior guard Lexi Poling led the Bulldogs with six points. Sizemore and King added four apiece.
Luster topped all players with 13 markers. Scott tallied 10 points.
The Bulldogs canned eight two-point goals and one three-point attempt. Ada converted three of four free throws (75 percent).
The Commodore girls hit 13 two-point field goals and canned three shots beyond the arc. Perry converted 12 of 17 charity stripers (71 percent).
Ada (2-2 home) hosts Riverdale (1-3) Tuesday, December 12. They then visit Columbus Grove for their annual NWC Bulldog battle Dec. 14.
Ada 22 (3-3)
Burkhart DNP, King 2 0-0 4, L. Poling 2 1-2 6, K. Poling 1 0-0 2, A. Andreasen 1 0-0 2, Sizemore 1 2-2 4, Price 1 0-0 2, St. Laurent 1 0-0 2, B. Andreasen 0 0-0 0.
Totals: 8-1/3-4/22. 3-pointers: L. Poling 1.
Perry 47 (3-2)
Luster 4 3-4 13, Scott 50-0 10, Hall 3 0-0 6, Dalton 1 0-0 2, Gordon 0 3-4 3, Hoersten 1 0-0 3, Lee 1 4-7 6, S. Rios 0 2-2 2, J. Rios 1 0-0 2.
Totals: 13-3/12-17/47. 3-pointers: Luster 2, Hoersten 1.
1 2 3 4 F
Ada 8 2 5 7 22
Per 12 4 13 18 47
No JV game
