By Cort Reynolds
ADA – The Ada High School girls basketball team lost its home opener against county rival Hardin Northern 56-26 Tuesday night.
HN fell behind 3-0 on a Lexi Poling triple, but then reeled off the next 19 points to take control. Ada trailed 39-8 at halftime.
The non-league defeat dropped the Bulldog record to 0-3 overall. The Polar Bear girls improved to 2-0 overall after the convincing win.
“We couldn’t get into a halfcourt offense in the first half,” said Bulldog third-year head coach Zach Ricker. “With the Bacon girls, they are a much better team than they have been. They are athletic.
“Offensive rebounds and turnovers hurt us,” he continued. “We knew their press was coming, we worked on it all week.”
“The two Bacon girls have had nice games so far,” said HN head coach Brady Mast. “They give Lainey Thomas freedom to be more aggressive. I thought we did a nice job getting pressure on them. Our top three guards on the press did a good job.”
Poling’s right wing trifecta a minute into the opening stanza provided the only lead of the night for Ada. The Polar Bear press bothered the Bulldogs, leading to turnovers and Northern transition points.
HN freshman Addy Bacon then exploded for 10 points, and junior guard Lainey Thomas netted seven to spark the decisive 19-0 spurt. A driving coast-to-coast, three-point play by Thomas highlighted the run.
Ada stopped the run on an eight-foot bank shot by junior center Anna Conley, ending a scoreless drought of over six minutes. Thomas hit four straight foul shots to ignite a 10-0 Polar Bear splurge.
Bacon spun baseline for a reverse layup, then scored on a stickback inside. Heidi Trachsel’s layup capped the run to provide a 29-5 lead with 6:25 left in the half.
Bulldog freshman Mariah Burns halted the spurt with a foul shot, but HN ended the half on a 10-2 flurry. Burns netted a layup for the last Ada basket of the half.
Bear junior Annemarie Minter canned another Bear putback to end the half with HN on top by 31.
The hustling 5-8 Bacon poured in 17 first-half points to pace HN.
Thomas sank a transition layup to open the second half scoring. Conley buried a left baseline 15-footer, followed by a basket from Ada sophomore guard Kenley Poling.
Ada freshman Emily Gibson canned a short shot. The Bulldogs later ran off six unanswered points to cut the deficit to 46-20. Ashley Hevlin split two foul shots, then Kenley Poling drained a triple. A fast break layin by Lexi Poling ended the best Ada spurt of the night.
HN freshman Baylie Bacon hit a basket just before the third period buzzer to build the lead to 28.
Gibson and Minter traded layins to open the final stanza. Thomas canned a driving layup. Baylie Bacon knocked down a 19-footer from the top of the key.
Bulldog sophomore post Brooklynn Andreasen nailed consecutive short bank shots from the left side to finish the scoring.
Ada outscored HN 18-17 after intermission.
“We showed more offense in the second half, we turned it up a notch,” said Ricker. “We were just out-matched in the first half, made too many mental mistakes. We moved the ball well in the second half vs. their zone.”
Lexi and Kenley Poling topped Ada with five points apiece. Conley, Gibson and Andreasen each added four points.
Addy Bacon led all players with 19 points and 15 rebounds. Nine of her boards came on the offensive glass.
The hustling Thomas netted 18 points and grabbed three rebounds. Baylie Bacon added six markers. Catherine Overs pulled down seven boards.
Ada committed 20 costly turnovers compared to just seven miscues by Northern. HN out-rebounded the Bulldogs 38-19 as the Bears grabbed 23 offensive caroms.
“We are pretty quick and go after the ball well,” said Mast of the HN offensive rebounding advantage. “We pushed the tempo, we were the predator. I am definitely pleased with the outcome.
“We knew Ada had some shooters if you left them open,” he added.
Ada canned nine of 27 two-point field goal tries (33 percent) and canned two of six foul shots (33 percent). They drained two of seven triple attempts (29 percent).
Overall from the field, the Bulldogs canned 11 of 34 shots (32 percent).
HN sank 22 deuces in 66 attempts to also shoot 33 percent on deuces. Northern made no trifectas in five attempts to end up 22 for 71 overall (31 percent).
The Bears converted 12 of 23 free throw tries (52 percent).
Ada 26 (0-3)
Lawrence 0 0-0 0, K. Poling 2 0-0 5, Gibson 2 0-0 4, L. Poling 2 0-2 5, Burns 1 1-2 3, Conley 2 0-0 4, Hevlin 0 1-2 1, Andreasen 2 0-0 4.
Totals: 11-34/2-6/26. 3-pointers (2-7): L. Poling 1, K. Poling 1.
HN 56 (2-0)
Thomas 5 8-12 18, B. Bacon 3 0-2 6, A. Bacon 9 1-2 19, Spearman 0 1-2 1, Trachsel 2 0-0 4, Overs 1 0-0 2, Minter 2 2-4 6.
Totals: 22-71/12-23/56. 3-pointers (0-6): none.
1 2 3 4 F
Ada 5 3 12 6 26
HN 21 18 9 8 56
No JV game.
The first home Ada (0-1 BVC) league game is Thursday, Dec. 5 vs. Vanlue (1-2, 0-2 BVC). The Wildcats beat USV 31-27, but lost to McComb in their league opener, 57-20.
