By Cort Reynolds

SPENCERVILLE–The visiting Ada High School girls basketball team battled but lost 62-44 to Spencerville in the Northwest Conference and regular season finale Thursday night, February 9.

Bulldog senior Courtney Sumner tossed in a team-high 21 points, including three triples, in a losing effort. 

Bearcat guard Kirsten Wurst countered with a game-high 22 points.

Ada finished its regular season 11-11 overall, and ended up 0-8 in the NWC with the defeat. 

Spencerville also finished 11-11 overall and went 4-4 in the NWC with the win. The Bearcat girls tied Allen East and Columbus Grove for fourth place in the nine-team league. 

"We just started out slow and never really got going," said AHS first-year head coach Zack Ricker. "Defensively we didn't execute the way we wanted to, and gave up second-chance points."

Ada trailed 12-6 after the first period as Gabi Croft scored seven early points for the hosts. The Bearcats extended the lead to 31-18 at intermission as Wurst netted eight points and Croft added five.

Sumner scored 10 first-half points to keep Ada within striking distance.

Spencerville put the game out of reach with an 18-13 third period. The teams played to a 13-13 tie in the final stanza.

Wurst netted 11 points in each half. Croft scored 13 of her 17 points in the first half. Bearcat Heidi Keller added 13 markers and matched Wurst with three trifectas.

Bulldog sophomore Lexi Poling contributed nine points on three treys. Junior Katie Sizemore added six points.

Ada canned 11 two-pointers and hit six three-point goals. The Bulldog girls converted four of 11 foul shots (36 percent).

The Bearcats connected on 24 baskets, sinking 16 two-pointers and eight triples. The hosts converted six of six shots from the charity stripe (100 percent). 

Ada ended up 4-5 on the road this season, and is 1-1 at neutral sites.

The Bulldog reserves lost a two-period contest, 30-9.  

Ada 44 (11-11, 0-8 NWC)

King 0 0-2 0, Gibson 0 0-0 0, Sumner 8 2-5 21, Burkhart 0 2-4 2, Poling 3 0-0 9, Andreasen 2 0-0 4, Sizemore 3 0-0 6, Conley 1 0-0 2.

Totals: 11-6/4-11/44. 3-pointers: Sumner 3, Poling 3.

S'ville 62 (11-11, 4-4 NWC)

Goecke 1 4-4 6, Muniz 1 0-0 2, Wurst 9 1-1 22, Croft 7 1-1 17, Lemar 1 0-0 2, Keller 5 0-0 13.

Totals: 16-8/6-6/62. 3-pointers: Wurst 3, Keller 3, Croft 2.

  1 2 3 4 F

Svl 12 19 18 13 62

Ada 6 12 13 13 44

2-quarter JV: S'ville 30, Ada 9.

The Bulldog girls face New Bremen (10-12) in the Div. IV sectionals at Shawnee Saturday, February 18 at 7:30 p.m.  

The Ada/NB winner advances to the Wapakoneta district semifinals, almost certainly against top seed Marion Local (18-4) Feb. 23 at 6 p.m.