By Cort Reynolds
WAYNESFIELD__The visiting Ada High School girls basketball team battled but came up just short at Waynesfield-Goshen 48-45 in a nailbiter that went down to the last second Thursday night, December 28.
Ada senior guard Olivia Burkhart poured in a career-high 28 points to keep the Bulldog girls close. Her last-second halfcourt heave could have forced overtime, but it narrowly missed to preserve the Waynesfield win.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F | |
| ADA | 7 | 11 | 18 | 9 | 45 |
| W-G | 18 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 48 |
The Lady Bulldogs dropped to 4-6 with the non-conference defeat.
The Tiger girls improved to 3-4 after the hard-fought victory.
“We started slow but could never quite get over the hump to take the lead,” said Ada head coach Zach Ricker. “Our lack of depth hurt. Olivia kept pushing the ball and fighting, she stepped up big. The girls played hard.”
“We lost a lot with Raegan out injured but other girls stepped up and got it done,” said W-G head coach Jocelyn Hennon. “We played really good help defense, especially Makenna Shaw.
“Olivia is a great player and she always shoots well against us,” she added.
W-G jumped ahead 8-2 before the spunky Burkhart sank a baseline shot.
Freshman Taryn Vorhes drained a left wing triple to build the lead to 12-4. Bulldog Lexi Poling hit a layup, but Raegan Hutchison sank a putback.
Another Vorhes triple with 1:36 left in the first period put the hosts ahead 18-7 after one quarter.
Burkhart drained a trey to open the second stanza. Hutchison hit two foul shots before Poling banked in a 16-foot transition shot. Burkhart sank a lane pull-up to inch within 20-14 with 5:06 left in the half.
Tatelyn Faraglia hit a short hook after Hutchison went down with a sprained ankle. Faraglia then hit two free tosses.
Burkhart hit two foul shots and a layup to edge Ada within 26-18. A pair of Vorhes foul shots gave W-G a 10-point bulge at the half.
Burkhart netted 13 of the 18 Ada first half points.
Tiger Makenna Shaw drained an 18-footer to open the third period.
Senior Katie Sizemore drilled a 16-footer. Classmate Autumn Andreasen posted up and scored inside. She scored again off an in-bounds play, followed by a steal and layup by Mariah King that cut the lead to 30-26 with 5:37 left in the third period.
An Andreasen foul shot was followed by one from Faraglia. Burkhart splashed two charity stripers with 2:27 left in the third period to make it 31-29. Vorhes split a pair but Faraglia sank the putback to make it 34-29.
Burkhart banked in a tough lane runner, and Hutchison powered inside for a layup. Ada sophomore Anna Conley banked in a short shot but Hutchison knocked down a 16-footer.
Burkhart was fouled at the buzzer shooting a triple and splashed all three foul shots to inch the Bulldogs within 38-36 heading to the final quarter.
Burkhart penetrated and hit a runner to tie it 30 seconds into the fourth, yet Hutchison answered with a basket. Faraglia canned a stickback inside for a 42-38 lead.
Faraglia buried a crucial left wing triple with six minutes left. Burkhart knocked down a driving pull-up banker to stay within 45-40. Conley made a nice steal that led to a Burkhart putback fadeaway and a three-point deficit.
Faraglia pulled down an offensive rebound, was fouled and split two shots with 2:47 left. Burkhart canned a pretty one-footed runner to inch within 46-44 at the 2:30 mark.
W-G ran off over a minute before committing a turnover with 26 seconds left that gave Ada a chance to tie or go ahead. Burkhart missed a tough runner, but Conley rebounded and was fouled with 9.5 ticks remaining.
She missed the first shot, but swished the second to pull Ada within 46-45.
Shaw was fouled with 6.9 seconds left and she split the pair. Faraglia then stole a sideline pass intended for Burkhart and was fouled with 4.2 ticks to go. She swished the first shot but missed the second.
Sizemore rebounded and passed ahead to Burkhart, whose desperation 40-footer bounced off the glass and rim at the buzzer.
Burkhart poured in a career-high 28 points. Andreasen added six for Ada.
Faraglia led W-G with 18 points, while Hutchison netted 13 in limited action. Vorhes added 10 markers with two treys.
The Ada girls connected on 16 two-point goals and hit one three-pointer. The Lady Bulldogs converted 10 of 15 free throws (67 percent).
The W-G girls canned 13 two-point field goals and hit three shots from beyond the arc. The Tigers converted 13 of 20 charity stripers (65 percent).
Ada (0-2 NWC) plays host to league foe Bluffton (4-5, 0-1 NWC) Thursday, January 4.
Ada 45 (4-6)
Burkhart 10 7-7 28, King 1 0-0 2, L. Poling 2 0-0 4, K. Poling DNP, A. Andreasen 2 2-4 6, Sizemore 1 0-0 2, Conley 1 1-2 3.
Totals: 16-1/10-13/45. 3-pointers: Burkhart 1.
W-G 48 (3-4)
Kessen 1 0-0 2, Faraglia 6 5-8 18, Vorhes 2 4-6 10, Zechman 0, Miller 1 0-0 2, Shaw 1 1-2 3, Hutchison 5 3-3 13.
Totals: 13-3/13-20/48. 3-pointers: Vorhes 2, Faraglia 1.
1 2 3 4 F
Ada 7 11 18 9 45
W-G 18 10 10 10 48
2-quarter JV: W-G 14, Ada 9.
