By Cort Reynolds / Additional photos by Mark Andreasen below
ADA – The Ada High School girls basketball team lost 38-20 to visiting Cory-Rawson and a hot shooter in a non-conference battle Monday night, December 9.
The Bulldogs pulled within 24-18 late in the third period, but then Hornet senior Morgan McVetta buried a dagger triple at the buzzer to stretch the lead to nine.
C-R went on to score seven more unanswered points against a deflated Ada squad, capping a decisive 10-0 spurt with a 34-18 cushion.
The defeat dropped the Bulldog record to 0-5. The Hornet girls improved to 1-4 after their first victory.
“We couldn’t get anything going offensively,” said Bulldog third-year head coach Zach Ricker. “We had less turnovers, but offensive rebounds hurt us.”
McVetta drained three first-period triples to shoot the Hornets to an early lead as she netted all nine C-R points in the quarter.
Bulldog senior Lexi Poling canned a weakside rebound follow shot, then swished a right corner trey to pull Ada within 6-5 at the 1:27 mark in the first period.
McVetta’s third trifecta from the right wing with 1:14 left made it 9-5 after the opening stanza.
Ada went to a box-and-one defense on McVetta in the second stanza, which slowed her down some. She muscled in a short banker to complete a traditional three-point play and make it 12-5 with 6:31 left before halftime.
Bulldog sophomore Brooklynn Andreasen canned a putback layin at the 5:27 juncture, followed by an offensive rebound bucket from Mariah Burns a minute later.
Yet another offensive stickback hoop by Andreasen inched the Bulldogs within 12-11 with 2:09 left in the period, prompting a timeout from first-year Hornet head coach Megan Siesel.
McVetta then drained a 19-footer from the right corner with 36 seconds left in the half to make it 14-11 at intermission. She scored all 14 points for C-R.
Junior post Anna Conley sank three foul shots early in the third period for Ada, sandwiched around a 10-foot right baseline shot by Ava Price. It was the first Hornet point scored by someone other than McVetta.
Price then rebounded a missed C-R free throw and put it back in to make it 19-14. Burns split two free tosses, but once again Cory rebounded a second misfired charity striper. The Hornets then scored on a pretty baseline-driving layin by Addyson Duffman at the 4:55 mark to go ahead 22-15.
The two missed free throw offensive rebounds were costly, Ricker noted, as both led to Hornet baskets.
Katelyn Duffman sank a driving layup to build the lead to nine. Sophomore guard Kenley Poling hit a foul shot, and Burns knocked down a lane banker to cut the deficit to 24-18 with just 15 ticks left in the third quarter.
McVetta then nailed the back-breaking trifecta from the top of the key at the horn to restore the lead to nine.
That McVetta buzzer trey took the wind out of the Bulldog sails, Ricker agreed. “You could just feel it,” he said.
C-R freshman playmaker Libby Kempf made a driving layup to open the scoring 38 seconds into the final stanza. McVetta then tallied a short driving shot.
Hornet Allison Stuckey canned two right side driving layups, sandwiched around a Burns transition layin that halted the 10-0 Hornet run.
McVetta splashed two foul shots in the final seconds to end the scoring and provide the 18-point margin. She tallied 21 points to easily pace all players.
“We got some momentum from the box and one defense, but we couldn’t get anything going on offense,” said Ricker. “We knew McVetta was a scorer. We didn’t adjust well on our zone in knowing where she was.”
Freshman Burns topped Ada with seven points, and she added one blocked shot. Lexi Poling added five markers.
“We probably had our lowest turnover total of the season,” Ricker observed.
The Bulldogs connected on six two-point field goal tries, and converted five of eight foul shots (63 percent). They splashed one triple.
C-R sank 10 two-point goals and made four trifectas, all by McVetta.
The Hornets converted six of nine free throw tries (67 percent).
Ada 20 (0-5)
Lawrence 0 0-0 0, K. Poling 0 1-2 1, Gibson 0 0-0 0, L. Poling 2 0-0 5, Hevlin 0 0-0 0, Burns 3 1-2 7, Conley 0 3-4 3, Andreasen 2 0-0 4.
Totals: 6-1/5-8/20. 3-pointers: L. Poling 1.
C-R 38 (1-4)
Price 2 0-0 4, Kempf 1 0-0 2, A. Duffman 1 1-2 3, Stuckey 2 0-0 4, K. Duffman 1 2-4 4, McVetta 7 3-3 21.
Totals: 10-4/6-9/38. 3-pointers: McVetta 4.
1 2 3 4 F
Ada 5 6 7 2 20
C-R 9 5 13 11 38
No JV game.
The Bulldog girls (0-2 BVC) entertain new league foe Riverdale (3-1, 1-0 BVC) Thursday, Dec. 12. It will be their fourth of five consecutive home games.
