The visiting Ada girls basketball team trailed by just three points to Van Buren at intermission, but got outscored 34-18 in the second half to lose 58-39 in non-conference girls basketball play Tuesday night, December 14.

The Lady Bulldogs fell to 2-6 with the defeat. The Lady Black Knights improved to 5-1 with the victory.

The contest was tied 11-11 after one period of play, and VB inched ahead 24-21 at halftime. The Black Knights then took control with a 16-7 third period, and won the final stanza 18-11.

"We had a pretty good first half but came out flat in the third quarter, and that hurt us," said Ada head coach Morgan Bass. "We didn't defend well in the second half and on top of that, we weren't finishing inside, which hurt."

Sophomore point guard Olivia Burkhart topped Ada with a career-high 19 points, including three triples. Bulldog junior guard Courtney Sumner contributed a dozen points. 

Senior Kirsten Poling scored three points in her first game back from knee surgery. Freshman Lexi Poling tallied six points by canning a pair of trifectas.

Ali Bishop led VB with 16 points. Sasha Busey scored 11 points, and Anna Durliat added 10 markers.

The purple and gold canned 15 field goals, including 10 two-pointers and five trifectas. Ada sank four of its 10 attempts from the charity stripe (40 percent).

The VB girls connected on 22 field goals, including 18 two-pointers and four triples. They converted 10 of 15 free throws (67 percent). 

Ada 39 (2-6)

King 0, K. Poling 1 1-2 3, Sumner 5 1-4 11, L. Poling 2 0-0 6, Burkhart 7 2-4 19, Jordan 0, Sizemore 0, Robinson 0.

Totals: 10-5/4-10/39. 3-pointer: Burkhart 3, L. Poling 2.

Van Buren 58 (5-1)

Lance 2 2-4 6, Morey 1 0-0 2, Durliat 4 1-1 10, Bishop 6 1-2 16,  Fruth 3 1-2 7, Bowman 2 0-0 4, Busey 4 3-4 11, Ponn 0 2-2 2. 

Totals: 18-4/10-15/58. 3-pointers: Bishop 3, Durliat 1. 

1 2 3 4 F

Ada 11 10 7 11 39

VB 11 13 16 18 58

Ada (0-2 Northwest Conference) hosts traditional local league rival Bluffton (4-3, 0-1 NWC) Thursday, Dec. 16.