By Cort Reynolds

The Ada High School girls basketball team got behind early and lost 55-15 to visiting Columbus Grove in their annual Northwest Conference "Battle of the Bulldogs" Thursday night, December 8.

The Ada girls dropped to 3-4 overall and 0-2 in the NWC with a loss that ended their two-game win streak. The Grove girls evened their mark at 3-3 and 1-1 in the NWC with the one-sided victory.

The purple and gold were short-handed due to illness and injury.

CG led 17-3 after the first period behind six points apiece from Lauryn Auchmuty and Nicole Nesby. Utilizing a sticky pressure defense, they maintained a 24-point margin at halftime and cruised to the win.

Grove turned several steals into easy transition layups.

"We had three out due to sickness and Courtney Sumner was sick too," noted first-year Ada head coach Zach Ricker. "But we just can't play timid against pressure." 

Ada trailed 4-0 when guard Lexi Poling drained a right wing triple to cut the deficit to one at the 5:33 mark. Grove then reeled off the next 13 points to end the period.

The run reached 21 unanswered points after two baskets by senior Jaylen Sautter to start the second stanza. Poling ended the run with another right side trifecta to make it 25-6.

Sautter knocked down a half hook in the lane. Ada junior Olivia Burkhart then canned a short turnaround shot in the lane, sandwiched around five Brynn Fortman points.

A patented lane runner by Burkhart bounced in 55 seconds before intermission to make it 34-10 at halftime.

Weakened by illness and injury, Ada senior standout guard Courtney Sumner sat out the second half with an ice pack on her right wrist.

Auchmuty sank a layup off a steal and assist from Sautter to open the second half. A breakaway layin by Sautter stretched the lead to 28.

A Fortman bank shot made it 42-10, followed by two steals and layins from Auchmuty. Sage Clement hit two foul shots and a driving southpaw layin.

Burkhart drained two free tosses but Sautter swished a triple to end the third quarter with CG ahead, 51-12. It was the third straight period Grove tallied 17 points.

Burkhart split two free tosses after a Grove technical foul early in the fourth stanza. CG reserve Kendal Palte sank a driving layup.

Poling banked in a nice right-side driving layup to finish the Ada scoring.

"We have to find the switch to want to compete against the top-level teams," said Ricker. "Grove has played a very tough schedule" (and is better than their record).

Poling led Ada with eight points. Burkhart added the other seven markers. 

Fortman led CG with 13 markers. Sautter and Auchmuty each tallied a dozen markers. Nesby added 10 as the fourth CG player in double figures.

The Lady Bulldogs sank five field goals, canning three two-pointers and two shots from three-point territory. The host Bulldogs converted three of eight foul shots (38 percent).

The CG girls canned 23 field goals, making 22 two-pointers and one trey. The visiting Bulldogs converted eight of 15 free throw attempts (53 percent). 

Grove also won the two-quarter reserve game, 14-2.

Ada 15 (3-4, 0-2 NWC)

King 0, Gibson 0, Sumner 0, Hevlin 0, Burkhart 2 3-4 7, Andreasen 0, Poling 3 0-0 8, Sizemore 0 0-2 0, Conley 0 0-2 2.

Totals: 3-2/3-8/15. 3-pointers: Poling 2.

CG 55 (3-3, 1-1 NWC)

Auchmuty 6 0-0 12, Sautter 5 1-4 12, B. Fortman 5 3-4 13, E. Fortman 0, Siefker 0, Stechschulte 0 2-4 2, Myers 0, Palte 1 0-1 2, Clement 1 2-2 4, Nesby 5 0-0 10.

Totals: 22-1/8-15/55. 3-pointers: Sautter 1.

1 2 3 4 F

Ada 3 7 2 3 15

CG 17 17 17 4 55

JV: CG 14, Ada 2.

Ada hosts Vanlue (1-4) Tuesday, December 13. The Wildcats lost 78-17 at Liberty-Benton Thursday. 

"We just have to move on from this game and look toward Tuesday vs. Vanlue," said Ricker. "That is a game we can win."

Ada is 1-3 at home.