Conley scores career-high 21
By Cort Reynolds
ADA – The Ada High School girls basketball team played well early, but ran out of steam and fell to visiting Vanlue 45-34 in the home Blanchard Valley Conference opener Thursday night, December 5.
The Bulldogs tied it 34-all early in the fourth quarter, then went point-less over the last 6:40 of play as they were outscored 11-0 down the final stretch.
Vanlue finished strongly to win the decisive fourth period, 14-2.
The tough league defeat dropped the Bulldog record to 0-4 overall and 0-2 in BVC play. The Wildcats improved to 2-2 overall and 1-2 in the BVC after the victory.
“We ran out of gas,” said Bulldog third-year head coach Zach Ricker. “At the end of the night, I felt like whichever team wanted it more would pull it out.
“We had some opportunities but couldn’t make the plays when needed,” he continued. “We didn’t finish.“
Ada junior post Anna Conley poured in a career-high 21 points, but no other Bulldog scored more than six.
Wildcat senior guard Olivia Secord completed a traditional three-point play to start the scoring 1:34 the fray. Madison Brooks rattled in a 17-footer, and Mariah Burns made a transition layup for the first Ada basket at the 4:55 mark.
Alison Brooks nailed a 17-footer, but Conley netted two inside baskets to tie it 7-7. Conley then buried a left wing three-pointer to put Ada on top, 10-7.
Conley then hit a six-footer off an in-bounds pass to give the Bulldogs their first five-point lead at 12-7 with 93 seconds left in the opening stanza.
Adrienne Phillips drilled a 16-footer, yet Conley answered by sinking a short lane shot to make it 14-9 at the 33-second mark. Secord then canned a driving layup to pull the visitors within 14-11 heading to the second quarter.
Conley tallied 12 points in the opening period.
Burns banked in a lane shot to give Ada a five-point cushion again early in the second stanza. Phillips swished a right wing triple, but Conley scored to keep Ada ahead by four.
Phillips drained an 18-footer, yet Ada freshman guard Emily Gibson answered with a hoop. Sophomore Kenley Poling knocked down a left baseline 16-footer to again give the hosts a five-point edge at 22-17.
Secord then sank a leaning left side banker, followed by a Candace Saltzman layup to inch the visitors within 22-21 at the two-minute juncture. Phillips tied it with a foul shot, and Burns regained the lead with another short bank shot 40 seconds before intermission.
Vanlue split two foul shots to keep Ada ahead 24-23 at halftime.
Saltzman put Vanlue ahead with a layup to open the second half, but Conley responded with a stickback goal and an eight-footer to build a 28-25 lead.
A running banker by Gibson made it 30-27 at the six-minute mark.
Secord canned a layin, and two foul shots by Saltzman put the Wildcats on top, 31-30. Conley tied it on a free toss at the 1:36 juncture. Ashley Hevlin then split a pair at the charity stripe with 10.3 ticks to go in the third to give Ada a one-point lead going into the final stanza.
Wildcat post Madison Brooks converted a putback three-point play to start the final quarter. Conley took a nice feed from Gibson and banked it in to tie it for the last time 34-34 with 6:40 remaining.
Vanlue then closed the game on an 11-0 spurt to win by a deceptive margin. Secord made two foul shots to start the run and put Vanlue ahead for good, followed by a left baseline 16-footer by Saltzman.
Madison Brooks muscled inside for a layup to make it 40-34 at the 4:45 mark. Ada came up with a big stop, but a costly turnover and an 11-footer by Saltzman stretched the lead to eight with 2:30 left.
A putback layin advanced the Wildcat lead to 10 with 1:27 to go. Ada missed several close-in shots down the stretch as they appeared to tire.
Saltzman split two foul shots to close the scoring.
Phillips led balanced Vanlue with 14 points. Secord scored 10, Saltzman netted nine and Madison Brooks added eight.
Burns tallied six markers for Ada.
The Bulldogs canned 14 two-point field goal tries, and converted three of six foul shots (50 percent). They drained one triple.
The Wildcats sank 16 deuces. Like Ada, Vanlue made just one trifecta.
The Wildcats converted 10 of their 20 free throw tries (50 percent).
Ada 34 (0-4, 0-2 BVC)
Lawrence 0 0-0 0, K. Poling 1 0-0 2, Gibson 2 0-0 4, L. Poling 0 0-0 0, Hevlin 0 1-2 1, Burns 3 0-0 6, Conley 9 2-4 21, Andreasen 0 0-0 0.
Totals: 14-1/3-6/34. 3-pointers: Conley 1.
Vanlue 45 (2-2, 1-0 BVC)
Phillips 6 1-5 14, Secord 3 4-9 10, A. Brooks 1 0-0 2, Hagerty 1 0-0 2, Saltzman 3 3-4 9, M. Brooks 3 2-6 8, Kloepfer 0 0-0 0.
Totals: 16-1/10-20/45. 3-pointers: Phillips 1.
1 2 3 4 F
Ada 14 10 8 2 34
Vlue 11 12 8 14 45
No JV game.
Ada plays its third straight home game when they host local rival Cory-Rawson (0-4) Monday, Dec. 9.
The Bulldog girls then entertain new league foe Riverdale (3-1, 1-0 BVC) Thursday, Dec. 12.
