Bulldog girls basketball falls to late Allison rally

By Cort Reynolds

ADA - The Ada High School girls basketball team battled hard but succumbed to a fourth quarter rally and lost 45-37 to non-conference rival North Baltimore on February 11.

The game was postponed from Saturday due to icy road conditions, and was the finale of a boys/girls tripleheader vs. the Tigers.

For three periods, upset-minded Ada contained Tiger freshman standout guard Lacie Allison with a diamond and one defense. She came in averaging 24 and scored 26 points, 14 of which came in the decisive fourth period. 

NB outscored Ada 17-7 in the final quarter to pull off the comeback win.
The Bulldog girls fell to 4-18 overall after suffering the tough loss that ended their regular season. 

NB improved to 14-7 overall with the victory.
“I knew it would come down to how long we could contain Allison,” said Ada head coach Zach Ricker. “She did what great players do, she made plays when they needed them.

“I thought the girls played really hard and executed what we wanted to do defensively,” he noted. “We were disciplined in our diamond and one. We decided to live and die by whether their other girls could make shots or not.”

NB jumped ahead 7-0 before Ada sophomore Kenley Poling splashed a triple with six minutes left in the opening stanza. A trey by Josselyn Paynter and a banked trifecta by Leah Trout stretched the NB advantage to 13-3.

Poling buried another trey from the top of the key at the 4:07 mark to spark an Ada rally. Bulldogs Ashley Hevlin and Anna Conley each split two charity stripers.

Allison bounced in a southpaw drive, followed by a three from Lexi Poling that cut the NB lead to 15-11. Ada freshman Emily Gibson stole the ball and drove for her own southpaw layup at the 1:46 mark.

Conley canned a right baseline shot to tie it up, and Gibson swished a 13-footer to give Ada its first lead at 17-15. But Allison answered by hitting a triple to put NB on top 18-17 after the high-scoring first period. 

Tiger Kaylee Allison buried a right baseline shot to make it 20-17. A good diagonal pass led to a Paynter layin. Conley split two free throws with 1:53 left in the half to score the first Ada point of the second period.

The Bulldog girls did not make a basket in the second quarter, but only gave up four points to stay within 22-18 at intermission.

Sophomore Brooklynn Andreasen blocked two shots in the first half. 

Conley banked in a short stickback one minute into the second half to cut the deficit to 22-20. Kaylee Allison sank a baseline shot. Conley buried a right side triple to pull Ada within 24-23. 

Andreasen grabbed an offensive board and fed Conley nicely for a bank shot that put the hosts on top 25-24 with 4:30 remaining in the third period. Lacey Allison canned two free tosses to put NB back in front at the 3:05 mark.

Conley split two foul shots to tie it up with 1:50 to go in the third. Lexi Poling drilled a pull-up 14-footer to give Ada a 28-26 edge. Conley swished a right baseline 15-footer off a good Gibson pass to increase the lead to 30-26.

Allison penetrated the lane and made an eight-footer with five seconds left to pull NB within 30-28. Ada outscored the Tigers 12-6 in the third quarter.

Paynter splashed two foul shots to tie it 30-30. Senior guard Lexi Poling rattled in a trifecta at the 6:55 mark. Allison converted a short putback. The freshman guard then stole the ball twice and cruised in for breakaway layups. 

The second was a three-point play that put NB ahead 37-33 with 4:43 remaining. Andreasen sank a short baseline shot off a Conley feed, but Allison responded by canning a triple with just under four minutes left.

Allison then stole the ball again and muscled her way in for a short bank shot and a 42-35 advantage. It was her 12th consecutive point.

NB missed two foul shots at the 86-second juncture, but they got the offensive rebound and ran off 30 crucial seconds before Allison drew a foul. The freshman standout swished both shots to tally 14 in a row and provide the Tigers with a nine-point lead.

Conely sank a driving layup to cut it to 44-37 with 47.2 ticks remaining.

Ada forced a turnover, but missed a triple try. Leah Trout was fouled with 7.2 seconds left and made one shot to stretch the final margin to eight.

Conley led Ada with 14 points. Lexi Poling scored eight, and Kenley Poling 
added six. Gibson and Andreasen each netted four.

Paynter added seven markers to support Allison.

Ada canned nine deuces and splashed five triples. The Bulldogs converted four of eight foul shots (50 percent).
NB connected on 11 two-pointers and drilled four treys. The Tigers converted 11 of 14 free throws (79 percent). Lacie Allison nailed all eight of her foul shot tries, and sank eight field goals.
The Bulldog girls ended up 0-11 at home this season, and went 4-7 on the road.
Ada plays at Northwest Conference champion Columbus Grove (20-2, 7-0 NWC) in sectional action Saturday, Feb. 15.

Ada 37 (4-18)
Lawrence 0 0-0 0, K. Poling 2 0-0 6, Gibson 2 0-0 4, L. Poling 3 0-0 8, Hevlin 0 1-2 1, Conley 5 3-6 14, Andreasen 2 0-0 4.
Totals: 9-5/4-8/37. 3-pointers: K. Poling 2, L. Poling 2, Conley 1.

NB 45 (14-7)
Cotterman 0, L. Allison 8 8-8 26, K. Allison 2 0-0 4, L. Trout 1 1-2 4, Paynter 2 2-2 7, Dewitt 2 0-2 4.

Totals: 11-4/11-14/45. 3-pointers: L. Allison 2, Paynter 1, Trout 1.