Visiting Riverdale High School girls basketball team broke open a tie game with a 12-0 run to start the fourth period and went on to beat the Ada team 53-41 in a non-conference game Tuesday night, December 8.
Tied 33-33 after three quarters of play, the more experienced Lady Falcons outscored Ada 20-8 in the decisive fourth period to win going away.
The Lady Bulldogs are 2-4 with the defeat. The Falcon girls improved to 3-4 with the victory.
"We crumbled after it was 33-33," said Ada head coach Morgan Bass. "Riverdale wanted it more, they were tougher in that moment. They had five seniors on the floor."
Ada junior guard Courtney Sumner led all players with a career-high 29 points and six steals. Sophomore point guard Olivia Burkhart netted 10 points, but the rest of the team combined for just two points.
Riverdale out-pointed Ada 17-6 at the charity stripe.
The Falcons led 9-2 before Burkhart sank her patented lane floater. A driving layup by Sumner inched Ada within 11-6 after the first period.
Sumner banked in a 14-footer, then stole the ball and coasted in for a breakaway layup to make it 11-10. Falcon Reagan McKinniss posted up inside for a basket, but Burkhart sank a driving layup.
Sumner again stole the ball and converted a transition layup to give Ada its first lead at 14-13. Her driving scoop and two foul shots moments later gave the Bulldogs an 18-17 edge.
Falcon senior Carrigan Vent stole the ball and cruised in for a left-handed layup to put Riverdale back on top. Yet Sumner hit two free throws, then made a slicing drive five seconds before intermission for a 22-19 advantage.
But Vent drilled a 30-footer at the buzzer to tie it 22-22 at intermission. Sumner netted 14 points in the second stanza.
Burkhart stole the ball and fed Sumner for a layup to start the third quarter. Sumner buried a left wing trey at the 6:16 mark to give Ada a 27-22 margin.
Two McKinnis baskets edged the Falcons within a point, but Burkhart sank a one-footed runner. Daicy Robinson banked in a short shot off a Sumner post feed to rebuild the lead to five at 31-26.
Riverdale took the lead on a 7-0 spurt, capped by two Vent foul shots. Burkhart converted a nice reverse layup off a fine Sumner diagonal bounce pass with five seconds left in the third period to tie it 33-33.
Three Callie Sudlow free throws and a short bank shot by Vent gave Riverdale a 38-33 lead with 6:22 remaining.
Vent then buried a right wing trifecta after an offensive rebound on a missed free throw at the 6:10 mark. Vent then made a nice steal and fed Lainie Howell for a three-point play to cap the 12-0 flurry with 3:54 left to play.
Sumner converted a driving three-point play to cut the deficit to 45-36 10 seconds later.
Howell canned a putback basket with 3:30 left. Sumner made another three-point drive, this time with her left hand, to edge within 47-39 at the 2:34 mark.
Falcon Mariah Bonham scored inside to build the lead to 10 at the 2:10 juncture. Burkhart blocked a driving shot by Sudlow, but the senior gathered her own miss and scored inside to go up 12 with a minute left.
Sumner blew past the defense for another layin, and Vent hit two foul shots to put the game away.
"We executed better in certain moments," Bass said. "But we lost the game at the foul line and on the offensive boards."
Vent led a balanced Falcon attack with 14 points. Howell tallied 11 points, Sudlow netted 10 and McKinnis added nine.
The Bulldogs canned 17 field goals, including 16 two-pointers and one trifecta. Ada converted six of seven attempts from the charity stripe (86 percent), all by Sumner.
The Falcons also sank 17 field goals, including 15 two-pointers and two triples. They converted 17 of 24 free throws (71 percent).
Ada 41 (2-4)
King 0, Sumner 11 6-7 29, L. Poling 0, Burkhart 5 0-0 10, Jordan 0, Sizemore 0, Robinson 1 0-0 2.
Totals: 16-1/6-7/41. 3-pointer: Sumner 1.
Riverdale 53 (3-4)
Howell 4 3-6 11, Bonham 2 0-0 4, Rothlisberger 1 2-2 4, Sudlow 2 6-9 10, Vent 4 4-4 14, McKinniss 4 1-2 9, Shull 0 1-2 1.
Totals: 15-2/17-24/53. 3-pointers: Vent 2.
1 2 3 4 F
Ada 6 16 11 8 41
Rdl 11 11 11 20 53
Ada (0-1 NWC, 1-2 road) visits Columbus Grove (3-1, 1-0 NWC) in a league contest Thursday, December 9.
