Ada Girls Rally Past Scrappy Lady Tigers
ADA - The Ada girls basketball team rallied from a huge early deficit to beat visiting Waynesfield-goshen 59-51 Tuesday night in their hard-fought Senior Night home season finale.
W-G raced out to a 14-0 lead, but Ada patiently came back to take its first lead at the third-period buzzer, and never trailed again. Lone Lady Bulldog senior Courtney Sumner poured in 28 points as Ada outscored W-G 37-24 after intermission to rally for the win. Short-handed Waynesfield seemed to tire late and fell to 9-12 after the tough loss. Ada improved its record to 11-10 with the intense nonleague victory.
“It was big for us to settle down and be patient after a slow start,” said Ada firstyear head coach Zack Ricker. “Our big weakness is a lack of size.
“It was nice for Courtney to go out with a win in her last home game, and she played really well,” said Ricker. “A couple turnovers late killed us,” said Tiger veteran head coach Jocelyn Hennon. “Sumner got hot. I was really proud of how well we played together, especially early on in sharing the ball. “We had a size advantage and did a good job of getting the ball inside,” she added. “Courtney and Olivia played well and found the openings.”
It was a game of long runs early on. W-G scored the first 14 points and appeared poised to run away with the game. Their box and one zone defense on Sumner stymied Ada. But the Bulldogs responded with a 10-0 flurry of their own to end the period.
Speedy Waynesfield guard Taylor Spencer nailed a left wing trey and a short transition banker to give W-G a 7-0 lead, prompting an Ada timeout at the 5:46 mark.
Tiger sophomore post Raegan Hutchison then hit a turnaround shot and an 18-footer to extend the margin to 11-0. A triple by fellow sophomore Tatelyn Faraglia capped the run at 14-0.
Katie Sizemore got Ada on the board with a putback layin at the 1:55 juncture. Sumner sank a left side banker, followed by a left side trey from Olivia Burkhart. Sumner then drained a long triple from out top seven seconds before the horn to pull Ada within 14-10 after one period of play.
W-G surged back in front 18-10 as Hutchison converted a traditional three-point putback. Burkhart nailed a shot, but Faraglia splashed another trey for a 21-12 margin. Sizemore sank a layup off a nice pass from Burkhart that penetrated the zone. Sumner then drained a long triple to creep within 21-17. Sumner swished another long triple 3:46 before halftime to inch it to 21-20. Hutchison powered in a layup for 23-20. Faraglia then banked in a half hook with 2:07 left.
On a third try follow effort, Faraglia sank a short lane shot for a 27-20 lead. Sumner canned a fast break layup at the 1:10 mark to make it 27-22 at the half. She scored 13 first half points, while Hutchison netted 11 and Faraglia 10 before intermission.
Sizemore bounced in a 10-footer from the right baseline to start the second half. Sumner swished a right corner triple to tie it 27-all with 6:30 to go. Hutchison answered with a power layup. Faraglia banked in a short stickback for a 31-27 lead at the 5:05 mark. She then followed in her own miss to extend the lead to six 22 seconds later. Faraglia made it six points in a row by canning two foul shots. Poling sank a layup off a steal and nice feed by Burkhart. Hutchison hit two foul shots to make it 37-29.
Tiger Peyton Webb swished a left corner shot from 18 feet. But Poling splashed a right wing trifecta to cut the lead to 39-32 and ignite a big Bulldog spurt. Burkhart drilled a step-back three from the right topside at the 1:23 mark to pull within 39-35. Sumner drained a right wing triple at the 55-second mark to cut the lead to 39-38. Hutchison responded by hitting a two-pointer. Burkhart was fouled with 13.9 seconds left in the quarter and sank one foul shot.
After a Tiger miss, Burkhart dribbled quickly upcourt and drained a triple from the top of the key at the buzzer to give Ada its very first lead, 42-41. ”That three was huge,” Ricker agreed. Burkhart sank an uncontested fast break layup to start the final period.
Hutchison scored inside to end the 15-1 Ada run. But Sumner swished a triple for a 47-43 lead at the 6:07 mark. She then stole the ball and drove in for a layup and a six-point lead. Faraglia sank a short putback seconds later. Burkhart canned two foul shots with 5:23 remaining. Poling came up with a loose ball and fed Sumner for another fast break layup.
Hutchison drained two foul shots. Poling made a layup off a nice Anna Conley pass to make it 55-47 with 3:55 remaining. Sumner created a one-girl break and outran W-G for the layup and a 10-point margin. Sizemore took a charge to negate a potential W-G three-point play with
2:48 left. “Katie did a good job,” said Ricker.
Burkhart drilled two foul shots to put the hosts up by 12. Faraglia scored inside, and Hutchison powered in another putback at the 1:12 mark. But the Tigers ran out of time and energy. Faraglia (22 points) and Hutchison (21) combined to score 43 of the 51 Tiger points. Burkhart supported Sumner with 18 markers. “It was big for Liv to step up and hit some big baskets,” aid Ricker.
Poling tallied seven markers and Sizemore added six with good work on the boards. Conley blocked two shots. “We played hard and are bummed about the outcome, but I never doubted our effort,” said Hennon.
Ada canned 12 two-pointers and hit a season-high 10 three-point goals. The Bulldogs girls converted five of 10 foul shots (50 percent). W-G connected on 20 baskets, sinking 17 two-pointers and three triples. The Tigers converted eight of 12 shots from the charity stripe (67 percent).
Waynesfield hosts Hardin Northern in their regular season finale Senior Night battle for the NWCC title Thursday, Feb. 9. Both teams are tied for first at 5-0 in league play entering the title clash.*