By Cort Reynolds

The host Bluffton High School girls basketball team spurted in the fourth period to pull away from upset-minded Ada and post a 55-43 Northwest Conference win Thursday night, December 15.

The Lady Pirates led just 36-35 heading into the fourth period. But the Pirate girls hit eight free throws and outscored Ada 19-8 in the fourth quarter to win by 12.

The Pirate girls improved to 5-2 and 1-1 in the NWC with the hard-fought win that snapped a two-game losing skid.

The Bulldog girls fell to 4-5 overall and 0-3 in the NWC with the tough defeat. 

Bluffton head coach Eric Garmatter was humble in victory. "Without watching the video yet, I feel coach Ricker had his girls ready to play and I didn't," he offered.

"I think we were outplayed and out-coached," he added. "I don't know if we were looking past them, but we were fortunate to come out with a win."

Bluffton improved to 5-0 at home with the win, while Ada is now 2-2 on the road.

"We competed and played well the whole game," said first-year Ada head coach Zach Ricker. "The girls executed and played hard."

The Bulldogs led 10-9 after the first period. But Bluffton took a 25-22 lead at the half as senior guard Sami Scoles poured in 10 second period points to offset six markers apiece by Sumner and Burkhart.

Ada pulled within a point heading to the final stanza as Burkhart nailed a trey and scored seven points in the third period.

Sumner tallied eight fourth quarter points, but the Pirates canned eight of 13 foul shots down the stretch to augment their lead.

Grandey canned three baskets and two foul shots in the fourth period to lead the late charge.

"Bluffton was able to get the lead to six or seven with three minutes to go," said Ricker. "We had to start fouling to put them at the line, which is where they grew their lead." 

Scoles scored 17 points, while Grandey netted 16. Riley Eachus canned 10 points behind three treys. Julia Mehaffie and Kendal Giesige added six points apiece.

Ada senior guard Courtney Sumner and junior Olivia Burkhart combined to tally 36 of the 45 Ada points. Sumner netted a game-high 19 points, while Burkhart tallied 17.

"Our lack of size down low definitely made it difficult to get stops against the Grandey girl, but the girls did everything they could to try to limit her inside," said Ricker.

"They gave great effort all night," he added. 

Bluffton canned 18 field goals, sinking 14 two-pointers and four treys. The Pirates converted 15 of 29 free throw attempts (52 percent). 

The Lady Bulldogs sank 13 field goals, canning 12 two-pointers and just one shot from three-point range. The Bulldogs converted 16 of 24 foul shots (67 percent).

Ada 43 (4-5, 0-3 NWC)

King 0 0-0 0, Sumner 5 9-12 19, Burkhart 5 6-8 17, Andreasen 2 1-2 5, Poling 0 0-0 0, Sizemore 0 0-0 0, Conley 1 0-2 2.

Totals: 12-1/16-24/43. 3-pointer: Burkhart 1.

Bluffton 55 (5-2, 1-1 NWC)

Mehaffie 2 2-4 6, Fleece 0 0-1 0, Schweingruber 0, Eachus 3 1-2 10, Giesige 1 4-8 6, Scoles 6 4-9 17, Grandey 6 4-5 16. 

Totals: 14-4/15-29/55. 3-pointers: Eachus 3, Scoles 1.

1 2 3 4 F

Ada 10 12 13 8 43

Bluf 9 16 11 19 55

Bluffton hosts BVC foe Van Buren (5-3) Tuesday, December 20. The Pirates then entertain WBL opponent Defiance (1-7) Dec. 22.

"Hopefully we will learn from this game and be better prepared come next week," said Garmatter.