By Cort Reynolds
ADA - The Ada High School girls basketball team got off to a slow start, rallied but ultimately lost 61-40 to Blanchard Valley Conference foe Pandora-Gilboa on February 4.
Ada fell behind 20-2 but battled back within six points at one point early in the third quarter. The Bulldog girls cut the deficit to nine twice in the fourth period, but could get no closer.
The Bulldogs were outscored only 24-23 over the middle quarters. P-G won the first and fourth periods by a combined total of 37-17.
The Ada girls fell to 4-17 overall and finished 0-10 in the BVC after the loss that ended a two-game win streak. The contest concluded their first campaign in the new league.
P-G improved to 12-10 overall and ended up 7-3 in the BVC with the win.
“We buried ourselves early by digging too big of a hole,” said Ada head coach Zach Ricker. “We were too slow making reads against their press, which led to a lot of steals and layups.
“But we kept battling,” he noted. “We have grown since early in the season; we did not get blown out after the bad start.”
PG led 4-0 early before Ada freshman Emily Gibson sank a 10-footer. The Rocket girls then reeled off 16 unanswered points to build a 20-2 lead. Ava Huffman canned a triple and two layups off steals to spark the flurry.
Ada junior Anna Conley ended the run by hitting a lane shot with 1:44 left in the first period. Sophomore Brooklynn Andreasen then knocked down a right baseline 17-footer to make it 20-6.
Senior guard Lexi Poling swished a right baseline 14-footer to inch Ada within 22-8 after the opening stanza.
Conley made a nice back cut and finished a layin to open the second period and cap an 8-2 spurt. P-G answered with a 6-0 splurge, but Bulldog Kenley Poling buried a triple from the top of the key.
Ashley Hevlin then got hot for Ada, making three baskets to end the half. She nailed a nine-foot shot to cut the deficit to 28-15. Huffman banked in a trifecta.
Hevlin then powered in a layup to make it 31-17. Hevlin drove and followed in her own miss to pull the Bulldogs within 31-19 at intermission.
Sophomore Poling drained consecutive treys from out top and the right wing to open the third period to slice the P-G margin to just 31-25.
Yet Rocket Ciel Wise splashed a left wing triple, and Huffman scored inside to spark a crucial 12-0 spurt. Savannah Knueven canned a three and a layup to key the flurry.
Hevlin drilled a 17-footer off the right baseline to end the Rocket run. She then made a layup late in the third period to pull Ada within 45-31 heading to the fourth quarter.
Conley completed a conventional three-point play inside to start the final stanza. She made another layin to creep within 45-36. But a Rocket stickback and a left corner 18-footer restored their margin to 14.
Conley scored again inside, and Gibson tallied a hoop to get Ada within 49-40. But two buckets by Maddie Rutschilling put the Rockets back in control, 53-40.
P-G ran off the final 12 points to stretch the lead from nine to 21 at the end.
Bulldog junior post Conley topped Ada with 11 points. Ada junior Hevlin scored 10 points to post her second straight double-digit scoring effort.
“I thought Ashley played really well,” said Ricker. “We have improved since November and December, we are not letting ourselves get blown out if we start slowly.”
Kenley Poling added nine markers on three triples. Senior guard Lexi Poling and Gibson added four points apiece.
Huffman led all scorers with 28 points on 12 baskets, including two treys. Knueven added 10 points and a pair of treys.
Ada sank 15 deuces and drained three triples. The Bulldogs converted one of three foul shots (33 percent).
P-G connected on 22 two-pointers and splashed five treys. The Rockets converted just two of nine free throws (22 percent).
The Bulldog girls play their regular season and home finale Saturday evening, Feb. 8 vs. North Baltimore (12-7). Tiger freshman standout guard Lacie Allison averages 24 ppg.
“It will come down to whether we can slow down Allison,” said Ricker.
The girls varsity game will be played last Saturday night. The Ada boys JV contest tips off at 4 p.m., followed by the varsity boys game vs. NB.
Ada 40 (4-17, 0-10 BVC)
Lawrence 0 0-0 0, K. Poling 3 0-0 9, Gibson 2 0-0 4, L. Poling 2 0-0 4, Hevlin 5 0-2 10, Conley 5 1-1 11, Andreasen 1 0-0 2.
Totals: 15-3/1-3/40. 3-pointers: K. Poling 3.
P-G 61 (12-10, 7-3 BVC)
Draper 2 0-4 4, Rutschilling 3 0-0 6, Wise 2 0-0 5, Teders 2 0-0 4, Huffman 12 2-5 28, Alverado 1 0-0 2, Knueven 4 0-0 10, Miller 1 0-0 2.
Totals: 22-5/2-9/61. 3-pointers: Huffman 2, Knueven 2, Wise 1.
|
ADA PANDORA-GILBOA |
1 8 22 |
2 11 9 |
3 12 15 |
4 9 15 |
FINAL 40 61 |
