By Cort Reynolds
COLDWATER - Ada broke away from a halftime tie with a big third quarter and went on to defeat New Knoxville 55-46 in boys Div. IV sectional semifinal play Tuesday night at Coldwater.
The Bulldogs improved to 6-17 with the victory and advanced to the sectional finals against top seed St. Henry Friday.
Meanwhile, the 10th-seeded Rangers end up 3-20 after suffering their eighth consecutive defeat. They lost 13 of their final 14 games after nipping Ads at NK 47-44 Jan. 5.
"It was not the start we were looking for, but we showed up in the second half and did what we needed to do," said Ada third-year head coach Dre White.
Senior Tia Harris (Newton Falls) reset her own indoor shot put school record and won the individual event title, leading the Ohio Northern women's track and field team to a fifth-place finish on Saturday at the 2019 Ohio Athletic Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships held inside the ONU Sports Center Fieldhouse.
ONU was fifth with 86 team points. Otterbein won the meet with 164.5 points; Mount Union finished second with 149.5 points; and John Carroll rounded out the top-three with 143 points.
The seventh-seeded Ohio Northern women's basketball team nearly completed an improbable run to the NCAA Division III Tournament Saturday, but fell to top-seeded John Carroll 61-58 in the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament Finals inside the Tony DeCarlo Varsity Center.
Northern ends the season at 15-13 overall after appearing in its third consecutive OAC Tournament Finals, having knocked off second-seeded Baldwin Wallace and third-seeded Marietta to reach the championship game. The Polar Bears became the lowest seed to reach the finals since JCU in 2011, also as a seven seed.
By Cort Reynolds
The Ada wrestling squad competed in the 15-team Div. III sectional wrestling meet at Lima Central Catholic Friday and Saturday.
Junior heavyweight Noah Arnett finished fifth in the 285 lbs. division. He won two of his four matches, including the fifth-place bout, to end up 16-10 this season.
By Cort Reynolds
Top-seeded Arlington reeled off 23 unanswered first half points and went on to defeat Ada 53-13 in girls Div. IV sectional basketball final action Saturday evening at Allen East.
After getting a first round tournament bye, 12th-seeded Ada finished its campaign 1-21 with the loss. Meanwhile, sectional champion Arlington advances to the district semifinals February 28 at Ottawa-Glandorf with a 20-4 mark.
The Lady Red Devils will next face Bluffton.
"I am proud of our efforts, we busted our butts from start to finish," said Ada first-year head coach Morgan Bass of the game.
By Cort Reynolds
ADA - Host Ada battled tooth and nail with local rival Bluffton on Senior Night, but in the end the Pirates held off the upset-minded Bulldogs 54-45 to record a Northwest Conference win in the regular season finale Friday night.
The purple and gold finished the regular season 5-17 overall and 2-6 in the NWC with the hard-fought defeat, while Bluffton ended up 15-7 and 5-3 in league play after the win.
Crestview (21-1) whipped Columbus Grove 61-44 Friday night to share the league title with CG, as each finished 7-1.
