PHOTO by Mark Andreasen / Additional photos below
By Cort Reynolds
ADA – The Ada High School girls basketball team lost 56-21 to visiting Riverdale in a Blanchard Valley Conference contest Thursday, December 12.
The Bulldogs were outscored 26-6 after intermission and went scoreless in the final period.
The defeat dropped the Bulldog record to 0-6 overall and 0-3 in the Blanchard Valley Conference. The Falcon girls improved to 4-2 overall and 2-0 in the BVC after the victory.
“It was a repeat of giving up too many offensive rebounds and making too many turnovers,” said Ada third-year head coach Zach Ricker. “Many of the turnovers were not really forced.
“We have to improve in rebounding the ball defensively,” he continued. “We can’t give up 20 extra shots a game between turnovers and offensive rebounds.”
Riverdale out-rebounded Ada 39-29, with 21 of their rebounds coming on the offensive glass. The Bulldog girls committed 28 costly turnovers, while the Falcons made just eight miscues.
As a result, Riverdale got off 69 shots while Ada mustered only 36.
The Bulldog girls hung close early and trailed just 10-6 late in the first stanza. Sophomore guard Kenley Poling banked home a foul line jumper in transition for the first Ada basket.
Bulldog junior Ashley Hevlin came off the bench to nail a nice 11-foot pull-up shot.
But at the first period buzzer, Falcon senior Mariah Bonham buried her second trifecta, this time from the top of the key, to give Riverdale momentum and a 13-6 lead.
“That three at the end of the first quarter hurt,” Ricker agreed. Ada never recovered as the Falcons reeled off a 14-3 spurt to seize control, and were never headed.
Riverdale rode that momentum to build a double-digit lead as they scored off their press and on the offensive boards.
A conventional Falcon three-point play and a corner triple by Annaliese Woodruff stretched the lead to 19-9, sandwiched around Brooklynn Andreasen’s short bucket for Ada.
Hevlin later canned a putback to cut the deficit to 24-11, but Woodruff sank a half hook followed by a Bonham layup.
Ada junior post Conley sank a short follow-up hoop, and Emily Gibson canned a short bank shot just before the half as the Falcons stretched the margin to 30-15 at the half.
Speedy Falcon Marissa Bonham came up with three steals that led to three breakaway layups in the third quarter, including two in a row to start the second half.
She scored eight points in the third stanza as Riverdale built a 44-21 cushion heading to the fourth quarter.
Conley scored inside off two nice in-bounds plays.
“We look at the in-bounds plays as an opportunity to get a bucket,” Ricker explained of the team’s success on plays starting under the basket.
The Falcons scored 12 unanswered points in the fourth stanza to make the final margin 35 points.
Conley led Ada with 10 points and two blocked shots. Hevlin added four markers and one blocked shot. Freshman guard Emily Gibson added three points and a few good passes Ada was not able to finish.
Falcon senior forward Mariah Bonham led all scorers with 17 points on the strength of four triples.
Versatile sophomore point guard Marissa Bonham totaled 13 points, 16 rebounds, six steals and five assists. Both Bonham sisters shot six of 11 from the field.
Sophomore guard Annaliese Woodruff added eight markers. Harlee Gonzales contributed four points, four steals and five assists.
The Bulldogs connected on 10 two-point field goals in 32 tries (31 percent), and converted one of their four foul shots (25 percent). Ada missed all four of its triple tries.
Overall, the Bulldogs made 10 of 36 field attempts (28 percent).
Riverdale canned 15 two-point goals in 51 attempts (29 percent), but made seven of 18 trifecta tries (39 percent). In all from the floor, they sank 22 of 69 shots (32 percent).
The Falcons only converted five of 14 free throw tries (36 percent).
Riverdale was credited with 17 steals compared to two swipes by Ada. The Bulldogs grabbed seven offensive caroms and corralled 22 defensive boards.
Ada 21 (0-6, 0-3 BVC)
Lawrence 0 0-0 0, K. Poling 1 0-0 2, Gibson 1 1-4 3, L. Poling 0 0-0 0, Hevlin 2 0-0 4, Burns 0 0-0 0, Conley 5 0-0 10, Andreasen 1 0-0 2.
Totals: 10-36/1-4/21. 3-pointers: (0-4).
Riverdale 56 (4-1, 2-0 BVC)
Mowery 1-3 1-3 3, Marissa Bonham 6-11 0-1 13, Woodruff 3-13 0-0 8, Mariah Bonham 6-11 1-2 17, Thacker 1-9 2-4 4, McBride 1-1 0-0 2, Courtad 0-3 0-0 0, Boutwell 0-1 0-0 0, Gonzales 2-10 0-0 4, Furr 1-3 0-2 2, Shull 1-4 1-2 3.
Totals: 22-69/5-14/56. 3-pointers (7-18): Mariah Bonham 4-8, Woodruff 2-7, Marissa Bonham 1-1, Shull 0-1, Boutwell 0-1.
| 1 2 3 4 | F | |
| Ada | 6 9 6 0 | 21 |
| Riverdale | 13 17 14 12 | 56 |
No JV game.
The Bulldog girls (0-3 BVC) entertain league foe Elmwood (1-4, 0-2 BVC) Thursday, Dec. 19 to conclude a five-game homestand.
