By Cort Reynolds
SPENCERVILLE – The visiting Ada High School girls basketball team lost 60-28 at Spencerville in the Northwest Conference and regular season finale Thursday night, February 15.
The Bulldog girls trailed just 11-8 at the end of the first period as senior guard Olivia Burkhart sank a triple and a deuce to keep Ada close.
But a 25-8 Bearcat second quarter stretched the margin to a commanding 36-16 at halftime. Clara Goecke scored nine points and Heidi Keller tallied seven in the decisive period for the hosts.
Spencerville then outscored Ada 15-6 in the third period as Keller drilled two of their three triples to put the game well out of reach. The Bearcats won the second half, 24-12.
With the loss, the Bulldogs finished the regular season 9-13 overall and they ended up 0-8 in the NWC.
Meanwhile, the Bearcat girls improved to 12-10 and finished sixth in the NWC at 3-5 after the win.
Crestview and Delphos Jefferson tied for the NWC crown at 7-1. Allen East and Columbus Grove tied for third at 6-2 in the tough league.
Lincolnview finished fifth in the conference at 4-4, followed by the Bearcats, Leipsic (2-6), Bluffton (1-7) and Ada.
Burkhart scored all 10 of her points in the first half. Junior guard Lexi Poling splashed three trifectas to account for all nine of her points. Ada senior Mariah King added four free throws.
Bearcat senior Keller drained four triples and scored a game-high 18 points. Goecke added a dozen markers.
The Bulldogs connected on four two-point baskets, and sank five treys.
Ada converted just five of 12 free throws (42 percent), while Spencerville canned 19 of their 25 charity stripe attempts (76 percent).
The Bearcat girls connected on 10 two-point goals and drained seven trifectas.
Ada hosts Waynesfield-Goshen (11-11) in Div. IV sectional first round action Wednesday night, February 21. W-G nipped visiting Ada 48-45 December 28 despite a career-best 28-point outburst from Burkhart.
Waynesfield beat Ridgemont 54-43 Thursday night to finish 6-2 in the Northwest Central Conference. The Tiger girls are led by All-NWCC six-footers Raegan Hutchison and Tatelyn Faraglia.
The Ada/W-G victor advances to the second round to face Midwest Athletic Conference second-place finisher St. Henry (17-5, 7-2 MAC) Feb. 24.
Ada 28 (9-13, 0-8 NWC)
King 0 4-8 4, K. Poling 0 0-0 0, Burkhart 4 0-2 10, L. Poling 3 0-0 9, A. Andreasen 0 0-0 0, Sizemore 1 0-0 2, Conley 1 0-0 2, Johnston 0 1-2 1, St. Laurent 0 0-0 0, B. Andreasen 0 0-0 0.
Totals: 4-5/5-12/28. 3-pointers: L. Poling 3, Burkhart 2.
S’ville 60 (12-10, 3-5 NWC)
Goecke 4 3-4 12, Muniz 3 3-3 9, Wannemacher 1 0-0 3, Smith 1 0-0 3, Griffith 0 1-2 1, Post 1 0-0 2, Cook 1 7-8 9, Fledderjohann 1 1-2 3, Keller 4 4-4 18.
Totals: 10-7/19-25/60. 3-pointers: Keller 4, Wannemacher 1, Smith 1, Goecke 1.
1 2 3 4 F
Ada 8 8 6 6 28
Svl 11 25 15 9 60
