Feb. 6—The Ada High School girls basketball team looked to be in big trouble after a disastrous third quarter. The Lady Cougars trailed by eight heading into the final period.
However, Ada put together an epic comeback and rallied past the Lady Panthers 45-41.
The Lady Cougars, ranked No. 19 in Class 4A, improved to 13-7 on the year, while No. 12 Harrah fell to 17-4.
In the boys contest, Ada overpowered Harrah right from the start and rolled to a 67-23 victory. The Cougars improved to 12-8, while Harrah left town at 2-18.
The Ada squads return to action Saturday with an afternoon road trip to Madill. The varsity girls game is scheduled for 3 p.m. with the boys to follow at 4:30 p.m.
GIRLSAda 45, Harrah 41
The Lady Cougars got some separation right before halftime by scoring nine unanswered points to close the second quarter. That spurt included a 3-pointer from Sania Richarson off a nice dish from Kennadee Bickerstaff, a fast-break basket by Karsyn Woods and a jumper with 36 seconds left by Ava Campos that put the home team ahead 22-18 at the break.
The Lady Cougars went cold in the third period, finishing 1 of 11 from the field and 2 of 8 from the free-throw line. Harrah took full advantage, outscoring Ada 18-4 during the quarter to surge to a 36-28 lead.
Richardson hit a free throw and then a long 3-pointer to get Ada’s fourth-quarter comeback started. She then drove down the lane and dished to Aniyah Emarthle for a layup that trimmed the Lady Cougar deficit to 36-34.
After a timeout, freshman Amyah Howell buried a big 3-point basket that put Ada ahead 37-36 with just over five minutes left in the game.
Ada head coach Christie Jennings said she felt like the momentum swung her team’s way after that made basket.
“I think that was a huge momentum shift right there. It gave us a boost of energy,” she said.
Sayler Eaton answered for Harrah with a triple of her own that put the Lady Panthers back on top 39-37.
Richardson, despite constant double-team pressure, knifed through the Harrah defense for a bucket that knotted the score at 39-39 with 2:18 to play.
After Harrah missed its first two free throws of the night — the Lady Panthers had made six straight — Campos made a tough basket from the baseline that put Ada on top 41-39 with 1:41 remaining.
A Richardson steal and layup pushed the AHS advantage to 43-39. Then, after Campos made a tough defensive stand against Harrah post player Maggie Vinson, Richardson helped ice the game with two free throws at the 24.4 mark.
Jennings had high praise for the Harrah club,
“They’re really good. They do a good job defensively with their schemes. They caused us some problems,” she said. “They’re really well-coached and shoot the basketball well.”
Jenning said her team being able to string together its 17-5 game-ending run against such a high-caliber opponent was huge.
“We needed that. We needed some adversity because it’s almost like a brand-new team. We haven’t played a whole lot of games since Sania has been here. She got the flu just like everybody else on our team,” Jennings said. “I really think we can keep getting better and better.”
Richardson led the Ada attack with 24 points, including three 3-point shots.
Woods finished with six points, six rebounds and two steals. Campos ended up with four points, three assists and seven rebounds and Howell scored five points off the bench for Ada.
Vinson registered a double-double for Harrah with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Eaton sank a trio of 3-pointers and scored 13 points and Allison Price followed with eight points and nine boards.
BOYSAda 67, Harrah 23
Ada took charge early, racing to a 21-2 lead to start the game. The Cougars used a 15-3 run in the second period to go on top 41-9 by halftime.
A long 3-pointer by Tremain Gray at the 3:23 mark of the third period stretched the Ada advantage to 53-9. Gray led a balanced Ada effort with 14 points. He also had eight rebounds.
Brock Boyles was next with 13 points, eight rebounds and three steals. Sophomore Grayson Morris had a big night off the bench. He contributed 11 points on 5 of 5 shooting from the field and also had six rebounds and three steals. Morris hit one 3-point basket.
Charlie Vest sank two 3-pointers and scored eight points for the hosts and Caron Richardson followed with seven points. He made one triple.
A total of 10 Cougars reached the scoring column.
Lain Clark paced the Panthers with six points. Post-player Connor Barton scored only two points but finished with 11 rebounds for the visitors.
