•Bulldog seniors girls Wills, Light, Waugh, Acheson and Leona Dalton were recognized before the game.
• 71 points was Ada boys' highest output of the season as a season-best 5 Bulldogs tallied double figures.
By Cort Reynolds -
ADA - Homestanding Ada defeated Waynesfield-Goshen 53-42 to celebrate Senior Night with a convincing non-conference girls basketball win Tuesday evening.
The Lady Bulldogs jumped out to an 8-2 lead and never trailed after being down 2-0. W-G rallied within 35-30 early in the fourth period, but senior Alexis Waugh ran off five crucial points to keep the Tigers at bay.
The southpaw first swished a left corner triple with 6:40 remaining. After a driving shot by Payton Spencer sliced the Bulldog lead to six, Waugh followed in a miss at the 5:32 mark to rebuild the cushion to eight.
Waynesfield cut the margin to seven on four occasions after that, but never got closer than seven. Ada senior post Megan Light muscled in a three-point stickback layin to give the Bulldogs a 50-40 lead with 51.9 ticks left, all but clinching the outcome.
"That three-pointer by Alexis was huge, it was a very big shot," said Ada third-year head coach Morgan Bass. "Megan's three-point play was also big.
"It was absolutely good to win on Senior Night," she added. "They definitely deserved it."
The Lady Bulldog record improved to 5-13 with the victory. Meanwhile, W-G fell to 6-13 after the defeat.
Bulldog sophomore point guard Courtney Sumner led all players with 22 points. Senior Miranda Wills added a dozen markers, and Waugh tallied seven.
A free throw and short banker by Wills gave Ada a 3-2 lead early. Sumner then canned a driving layup and a left wing triple to build an 8-2 advantage.
Tiger senior guard Jordan Elliott banked home a trey. Sumner made another drive, followed by a running shot from W-G's Rylie Barrington.
Elliott then stole the ball, pulled up and buried a trifecta from the top of the key to tie it 10-10. Wills sank a layup with 55 seconds left in the opening statnza to give Ada a 12-10 lead they never relinquished.
Three Ada foul shots and a right wing triple from Sumner gave the hosts an 18-13 advantage. Barrington's driving banker was answered by a layup from senior Kylie Acheson.
Tiger Madilynn Flinn sank a nice left side runner. Wills canned a transition layin off a long baseball pass from Sumner. Barrington's stickback layin 40 seconds before halftime pulled W-G within 22-19 at intermission.
Junior Kirsten Poling followed in her own miss to start the second half well for Ada. After two Payton Spencer foul shots, Poling canned a nice driving layup.
Poling then converted two foul shots to extend the Ada lead to seven. Sumner's fast break layup capped an 8-2 run with 5:08 left in the third stanza.
After two Flinn free throws, Sumner drove and banked in a conventional three-point play to lead by 10. Three Barrington foul shots, and a Sumner layin gave the Bulldogs a 35-26 cushion heading to the final quarter.
Taylor Spencer and Barrngton each canned transition layups to start the fourth quarter ominously and cut the Ada lead to 35-30.
Waugh then drained her critical corner triple to stop the Tiger momentum. After another Waugh basket, Sumner and Wills combined to hit three free throws.
Barrington kept W-G alive with a layup and two foul shots. Yet Wills canned a putback layup for a 45-36 edge. Elliott splashed two free throws, but Sumner banked in a driving shot for a 47-38 margin.
Barrington followed in her own miss to slice the lead to seven for one last time. Light then converted her putback three-point play to put the game out of reach.
Sumner hit two more free throws, and Mariah King added one charity striper to close the Ada scoring. Elliott drained a 16-footer for the last Tiger points.
Barrington topped the Tigers with 18 points. Elliott added 10 markers, but no one else scored more than six.
Poling also contributed six points for Ada.
The Lady Bulldogs knocked down 18 field goals overall. Ada canned 15 two-pointers, and also sank three treys.
The Bulldogs converted 14 of 21 foul shots (67 percent).
The W-G girls connected on 12 two-point goals and made two three-pointers for 14 total baskets. The Tigers converted 12 of 16 free throw attempts (80 percent).
Bulldog seniors Wills, Light, Waugh, Acheson and Leona Dalton were recognized before the varsity game.
Ada is now 3-6 at home this season.
W-G rallied to win the reserve game, 29-25. Freshman Karmen Hall led the Bulldog reserves with nine points, while Daicy Robinson netted six. Kapri Wilson topped the Tigers with 15 markers.
Ada 53 (5-13)
Sumner 8 4-6 22, Poling 2 2-4 6, Burkhart 0, Light 1 1-1 3, Waugh 2 2-2 7, Wills 4 4-6 12, Acheson 1 0-0 2, Dalton 0, King 0 1-2 1, Jordan 0.
Totals: 15-3/14-21/53. 3-pointers: Sumner 2, Waugh 1.
W-G 42 (6-12)
Bigelow 0, T. Spencer 1 0-0 2, P. Spencer 2 2-4 6, Elliott 3 2-2 10, Barrington 6 6-8 18, Flinn 1 2-2 4, Baumgardner 1 0-0 2.
Totals: 12-2/12-16/42. 3-pointers: Elliott 2.
1 2 3 4 F
Ada 12 10 13 18 53
W-G 10 9 7 16 42
JV: W-G 29, Ada 25.
The Bulldogs host league foe Lincolnview (7-13, 1-6 NWC) in the regular season finale Thursday, Feb. 11. The Lancer girls lost to arch-rival and NWC co-leader Crestview 55-40 last Thursday night.
Delphos Jefferson (6-1) and the Lady Knights (6-1) are the league co-leaders heading into the final game, followed closely by Paulding (5-2) and Spencerville (5-2).
Columbus Grove (4-3) sits just ahead of Bluffton (4-4) in fifth place, followed by Ada (1-6), Lincolnview (1-6) and Allen East (0-7).
The Ada/Lincolnview winner will finish seventh in the final nine-team league standings, with the loser ending up eighth.
"Hopefully we will be up and excited," said Bass. "It is our last home game, and the final regular season game. It would be nice to finish on a good note."
Boys defeat Allen East
By Cort Reynolds
HARROD - Visiting Ada came back from a big early deficit to defeat backyard rival Allen East 71-57 in a Northwest Conference boys basketball makeup game Tuesday night.
The 71 points was Ada's highest output of the season as a season-best five Bulldogs tallied double figures.
"It is always good to get a league road win," said Ada head coach Jon Cook. "I am really proud of our kids for finishing a tough game off. To come off a gut-wrenching loss to a pretty good Spencerville team last Friday and then win a mid-week game is big.
"Every kid contributed, even though only five guys scored. We have kind of found ways to lose close games this year, so I am over the moon happy for them to get this win."
AE led 16-5 after the first period, but Ada turned that back around with a 23-8 second stanza outburst.
"In the first period I thought we didn't have much life or play hard," said Cook. "We weren't cutting or getting defensive rebounds; we looked flat with a bad energy level."
The Mustangs increased a 9-5 lead to a 16-5 bulge with a flurry in the final seconds of the opening stanza. But the Bulldogs roared back to lead 28-24 at halftime.
"We made a few shots in the second quarter, and our energy level picked up," observed the coach.
"There was a big turn in the second period," he noted. "Cayden (Murphy) got two early fouls, so we had to sit him down. We went back to him in the second period with about five minutes to go.
"He got a couple buckets and defensive rebounds, and just his presence helped us get going. We were too perimeter-oriented early."
Micah Cook also converted a rare, key four-point play in the game-turning second quarter.
"We finished the second period strong and that closing surge was big for us," Cook noted. "We went into the locker room with a lot of confidence.
"The third quarter has been a problem for us all year," admitted Cook. "We have been shaky coming out of the locker room. But tonight we won the third, 20-15."
Bulldog senior Tristan Conley tallied 11 crucial points in the third period. Ada built a 41-27 lead, yet AE fought back to within 42-39.
Conley then drained a key three-pointer with about 15 seconds left in the third quarter to stop the Mustang momentum. Ada came up with a steal, and Conley buried another trifecta just before the buzzer to give the visitors a 48-39 cushion.
"That 15-second stretch with the two three's was really big," said Cook. "The game ebbed and flowed in the fourth. We got off to a good start to lead by 13 or 14.
"Allen East cut it to six with about two minutes to go," he recalled. "But we took care of the ball and made free throws down the stretch."
Ada connected on 11 of 14 free throw attempts in the fourth quarter.
"We protected the (late) lead, soemthing we have had trouble with this season," Cook noted.
Bulldog senior Cook tallied a season-high 20 points, and Conley also added his season-best total of 18 markers. Cayden Murphy scored a dozen points afer missing the last two games due to concussion protocols.
"Cayden played extremely well, but everyone that played for us played well," Cook pointed out. "Tristan's play was a big story."
Sophomore Carter Conley also netted 11 big points in his first real varsity action after coming up from the reserve squad.
The Bulldogs improved to 3-14 overall and 1-4 in the NWC with their first league win. AE fell to 9-10 and 2-5 in the NWC with the defeat.
"I can't give the kids enough credit for their willingness to buy in, play together and keep competing," said Cook.
"Danny (Thompson) and Ethan (Murphy) didnt score but they helped us on the boards and gave great effort, they played with a lot of energy.
"Everything came together at the right time tonight," he continued. "We made a lot of shots and that covers up a lot of stuff. We didn't rebound much at all or take care of the ball that well.
"Carter Conley scoring 11 points in his first varsity action was obviously big. We shared the ball and trusted one another."
Ada sophomore Spencer Wall did not play after injuring his knee late in practice Monday night.
Gabe Criblez led AE with 15 points. K Miller tallied 13 markers and Garrett Newland netted 12,
The Bulldogs connected on 24 total field goals. They sank 15 baskets inside the arc, and splashed nine shots from three-point territory.
Ada converted 14 of 17 attempts from the charity stripe (82 percent).
"Free throw shooting was good for us," Cook noted.
The Mustangs sank 23 total baskets. They canned 21 two-point field goals and hit two from three-point territory. "They have been inconsistent from the perimeter, that has been an issue most of the year," said Cook of the Mustangs.
AE converted nine of 16 free throw tries (56 percent).
The Bulldogs earned their first road win in eight tries this season.
Ada lost a seesaw junior varsity contest 43-38 to drop to 6-9.
Ada 71 (3-14, 1-4 NWC)
Thompson 0, Cook 5 6-7 20, C. Murphy 6 0-0 12, T. Conley 2-4 2-2 18, Poling 4 1-2 10, E. Murphy 0, C. Conley 3 5-6 11.
Totals: 15-9/14-17/71. 3-pointers: T. Conley 4, Cook 4, Poling 1.
AE 57 (9-10, 2-5 NWC)
Crumrine 4 0-0 9, Newland 5 1-1 12, Criblez 5 5-10 15, Young 0, K. Miller 6 1-2 13, Clum 1 2-2 4, J. Hershberger 2 0-1 4, Armstrong 0.
Totals: 21-2/9-16/57. 3-pointers: Crumrine 1, Newland 1.
1 2 3 4 F
Ada 5 23 20 23 71
AE 16 8 15 18 57
JV: AE 43, Ada 38.
This Friday the Bulldogs (1-4 NWC, 1-7 road) visit tough Lincolnview (12-4, 4-2 NWC). The Lancers lost 56-40 to arch-rival Crestview last weekend.
"We have three NWC games this week," Cook noted. "Coach Hammons is a very underrated coach. They do a very good a job of preparing a team defensively. They take you out of what you are comfortable doing.
"Lincolnview has the capability of scoring a lot of points," he continued. "They have a large senior class and a ton of experience. They can get four to five guys in double figures most nights, with one or two who can get 25 and carry them.
"It will be a real challenge for us in a short turnaround. It will be our third game in seven days," he added.
"I hope we defend as well as we can, and rebound better. They have such balance they can present a lot of challenges," said Cook.
Ada then hosts Paulding (6-9, 2-4 NWC) Saturday, Feb. 13. The freshman game starts at 4 p.m., followed by the JV at approximately 5:30, and then the varsity tilt.
"Paulding will be challenging especially as our fourth game in eight days, and third NWC game in five days," said Cook. "They are a pretty experienced team. They like to play inside-out with one really good back-to-the-basket, low-post guy. They play multiple defenses and switch things, and take you out of ball reversal.
"Our zone will be important to surround their low post player and still find their one or two good perimeter shooters," he went on. "It is a short turnaround with back-to-back league games, so nothing will be easy."
Paulding has lost its last five games heading into a home contest Friday vs. Crestview (15-5, 6-1 NWC).
AE visits league leader Columbus Grove (15-2, 6-0 NWC) Friday night.
