By Cort Reynolds

MORRAL - The visiting Ada High School girls basketball team stifled non-conference foe Ridgedale 31-17 in a makeup game on Saturday, February 1.

Ada held the Rocket girls to just two first-half points, and shut them out in the second stanza to build a 12-2 lead at halftime.

The Bulldogs outscored the hosts 19-15 in the second half to win going away.

The 17 points Ada allowed was their lowest defensive output of the season. 

The Bulldog girls improved to 3-17 overall after the road win. Non-league foe Ridgedale dropped to 5-13 with the defeat.

“We played a 2-3 zone and tried to force them to make shots over the top,” explained Ada head coach Zach Ricker.

Bulldog junior post Anna Conley led the Bulldogs with 14 points. She poured in 11 of her points in the second half, including eight in the third period.

The Bulldogs outscored the Rockets 11-8 in the third quarter to lead 23-10. They also won the final stanza 10-7 by hitting six of eight foul shots.

“We tried to get Anna the ball on the inside when they would switch and put a smaller player on her,” said Ricker.

Senior guard Lexi Poling added seven markers.

The Rocket girls were led by Maddie McKinzie with nine points.

Ada sank eight deuces and buried a pair of triples. The Bulldogs converted  nine of 14 foul shots (64 percent).

Ridgedale canned eight two-pointers and made no treys. The Rockets converted their only free throw (100 percent).  

Ada 31 (3-17)
Lawrence 0 0-0 0, K. Poling 0 2-2 2, Gibson 0 0-0 0, L. Poling 2 2-2 7, Hevlin 1 0-0 2, Burns 1 0-2 2, Conley 5 3-4 14, Andreasen 1 2-4 4.
Totals: 8-2/9-14/31. 3-pointers: L. Poling 1, Conley 1.

Ridgedale 17 (5-13)
McKinzie 4 1-1 9, Scott 1 0-0 2, Robinson 1 0-0 2, Thiel 2 0-0 4.
Totals: 8-0/1-1/17. 3-pointers: none.

The Bulldog girls visit winless Calvary Christian (0-12) Tuesday, February 4 in a non-league game. 

Ada (0-9 BVC) then hosts Pandora-Gilboa (11-10, 6-3 BVC) Thursday, Feb. 6 in the finale of their first BVC season. 

The regular season and home finale is Feb. 8 vs. North Baltimore (11-6). NB beat Ridgedale 50-35 Thursday. Tiger freshman Lacie Allison averages 24.5 ppg.