By Cort Reynolds
ADA - Visiting local rival Cory-Rawson ruined the Ada girls basketball season opener and ended a losing streak of over 50 games with a hard-fought win Tuesday night.
After going winless for more than two seasons, the Lady Hornets rallied behind a big second half to defeat the Lady Bulldogs, 53-45.
The non-league victory upped the Hornet record to 1-2, while the cold-shooting Lady Bulldogs start out 0-1.
Ada led 24-17 at halftime, but a 13-0 C-R run early in the third period turned the momentum. The Hornets outscored the Bulldogs 36-21 after intermission - highlighted by a 15-4 third period - to end their long losing skid.
"Cory-Rawson played hard, their girls were hungry and they wanted it more," said fourth-year Bulldog head coach Bill Taflinger.
Junior guard Raina England led the Lady Bulldogs with 16 points, seven rebounds and three assists. "Raina did a fine job in her first game at the point," said the coach. "She handled the ball all game and led us in points, rebounds and assists."
Hornet freshman point guard Zoe Chisholm topped all scorers with 22 points, 17 of which came in the second half. "She is a nice young player," Taflinger noted.
Ada ran out to a 9-2 lead early on and appeared to be in control for the first 17 minutes. Senior wing Maddie Gossard started the game off by nailing a right side 18-footer, followed by a Rilan Conley putback.
A right wing triple by Gossard increased the lead to five. England made a nice anticipatory steal, then drove coast to coast for a layup and a 9-2 margin.
England connected from 11 feet out on the right baseline before Chisholm canned a stickback to cut the C-R deficit to 11-6 after one stanza of play.
A right wing trey by senior Anney Archer and another offensive rebound basket by Conley gave Ada its biggest lead at 18-6 early in period two. C-R 5-11 senior post Sarah Curth converted a nice spinning post move off glass to end the 7-0 Bulldog run.
Consecutive fast break baskets by the Hornets were answered by an England three-pointer from the right side. Following another transition goal by Savannah Traucht, the Hornets inched within 24-17 at intermission despite two England free throws.
"They got some easy transition baskets when we didn't get back on defense," noted Taflinger, "and those helped get them back in the game."
Conley canned the first bucket of the second half inside off a nice Archer feed to provide a nine-point margin. But then Ada went ice cold and Cory took control with 13 unanswered points.
Curth sank a turnaround banker and southpaw Chisholm drained a triple to cut it to 26-22 at the five-minute mark. Samantha Roth drilled a right wing triple, and Chisholm tallied five straight points to cap the flurry and give Cory its first lead at 30-26.
Ada freshman post Megan Light stopped the spurt with a rebound basket inside with 1:39 left. A short bank shot by Roth capped the critical 15-4 Hornet quarter and put the Hornets on top 32-28 heading to the final stanza.
Four free throws by Conley and England tied it 32-all early in the foul-filled fourth period. Chisholm fouled out Conley and canned two charity stripers to provide a 34-32 Cory edge.
Ada tied it on two foul shots, but a Roth trey gave the visitors the lead back for good with 6:44 left. Two England foul shots, followed by her short basket after the quick guard swiped the ball in backcourt, edged the purple and gold within 41-38 at the 4:24 mark.
Yet Roth stopped the Bulldog momentum with an old-fashioned, driving three-point play 34 seconds later. Archer swished a right baseline runner to cut it to 44-40.
But C-R ran off the next six points behind two driving baskets from lefty Chisholm to build their biggest lead of the evening at 50-40 with 65 seconds remaining. Gossard splashed two foul shots, yet Roth responded by hitting a left side 12-footer with 36 ticks to go.
Gossard closed the scoring on a right wing triple with 11 seconds left to provide the final margin of eight. The excited Hornets celebrated their first win in two and a half seasons wildly after the final buzzer sounded.
"It helped them a little bit to have played two games already," Taflinger admitted. "But we didn't rebound well and had a lot of turnovers. We started fouling, and we have no bench. It was a frustrating game."
The Hornets changed the tone of the contest with a fullcourt press that sped Ada up and helped cause the inexperienced Bulldogs to make costly turnovers. Cory converted some key baskets in transition to also change the momentum.
The Bulldogs committed 25 turnovers to 28 by Cory. Ada suffered through a cold-shooting night as well. The hosts made only one field goal in an 11-minute stretch covering much of the third and fourth periods.
Ada sank 60 percent at the charity stripe (15-25) while C-R canned 12 of 19 free throws (63 percent). The Hornets made 19 field goals to 13 by the Bulldogs.
Roth supported Chisholm with 13 points, while Curth added eight markers with three blocked shots. Gossard scored 11 points and Conley scored 10 for Ada.
Ada lost a two-quarter reserve contest, 25-9. Miranda Wills and Megan Light each scored four points for the Bulldogs.
Ada 45 (0-1)
M. Gossard 3 3-4 11, Coulson 0 1-2 1, Archer 2 0-0 5, England 4 7-11 16, Conley 3 4-6 10, Wills 0 0-2 0, Light 1 0-0 2, Rush 0.
Totals: 13/15-25/45. 3-pointers: M. Gossard 2, Archer 1, England 1.
Cory-Rawson 53 (1-2)
Waltz 2 0-0 4, Traucht 1 0-0 2, Garmatter 0 2-2 2, Green 0 0-2 0, S. Roth 5 1-1 13, Curth 3 2-4 8, Chisholm 7 7-10 22, Vekaryasz 1 0-0 2.
Totals: 19/12-19/53. 3-pointers: S. Roth 2, Chisholm 1.
1 2 3 4 F
Ada 11 13 4 17 45
C-R 6 11 15 21 53
JV: C-R 25, Ada 9.
Ada visits county rival Hardin Northern on Tuesday, December 5 in another non-league contest. "They have Ashton Dye back, she is a good guard," Taflinger noted. "She had about 25 or 28 points against us in the sectionals last year."
