Lady Panthers cage Bulldog girls    
By Cort Reynolds
PAULDING - Host Paulding ran out to a big early lead and went on to beat Ada 66-39 in Northwest Conference girls basketball play Thursday night.

The purple and gold girls fell to 1-14 and 0-5 in the NWC with the loss, while the Lady Panthers improved to 7-9 and 2-4 in league play after the win.

Paulding led 34-9 at intermission, but Ada played the Panthers to a 32-30 second half.

"The first half was disappointing," said first-year Bulldog head coach Morgan Bass. "Then in the second half we scored 30. But they killed us on the boards.

"We had such a passive mindset to start but picked it up in the second half by attacking in the second half, which obviously helped," she added.     

Panther Leigha Egnor led all scorers with 17 points. Teammate Briana Townley added 13 markers.

The Lady Bulldogs poured in 20 fourth period points, one of their highest outputs of the season.

Freshman Kirsten Poling led Ada with 14 points on seven field goals. Sophomore Miranda Wills contributed 10 points on the strength of eight foul shots.

Sophomore Kylie Acheson added seven points with one three-point goal. Freshman guard Timber Blankenship netted six points.

"Kirsten Poling played well and Miranda stepped up," said Bass. "Kylie Acheson hit a couple shots and Timber just did a good job of attacking."

Ada canned 13 two-point field goals and sank one triple. The Bulldogs converted 10 of 18 free throws (56 percent).

Paulding canned 28 field goals, including one trey, and converted nine of 13 free throws (69 percent).

The Lady Bulldog reserves also lost a two-quarter JV game, 16-3.

Ada 39 (1-15, 0-5 NWC)
Wills 1 8-14 10, Poling 7 0-0 14, George 0, Light 1 0-2 2, Acheson 2 2-2 7, Waugh 0, Phillips 0, Blankenship 3 0-0 6, Cortez 0, Jordan 0. Totals: 14/10-18/39. 3-pointer: Acheson 1.

Paulding 66 (7-9, 2-4 NWC)
McCullough 1 0-0 2, Pease 3 1-2 7, C. Geisige 3 1-2 7, Egnor 7 3-4 17, Manz 2 0-0 4, A. Geisige 2 0-0 4, Parrett 2 1-2 5, Arellano 1 0-0 2, Strayer 0 3-4 3, Townley 6 0-0 13, Estle 1 0-0 2.
Totals: 28/9-13/66. 3-pointer: Townley 1.

    1    2    3    4    F
Ada    3    6    10    20    39
Pau    16    18    17    15    66
JV: Paulding 16, Ada 2.

Ada (1-7 home) hosts local rival USV in a rematch Tuesday, Jan. 29. The Lady Rams beat the Bulldogs 44-35 at Ada on Dec. 27 in the semifinals of the Border Battle tournament to earn their first win of the season.

"The girls are excited to play USV again," said Bass. "Definitely hope to change up the game plan some from last game."

There is no JV game scheduled, so the varsity game with USV will tip off at 6 p.m. Jan. 29.