North Adams’ Mona Edwards fires off a three-point attempt in the fourth quarter of the Lady Devils’ win over Western Latham on Saturday. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
North Adams’ Ainsley Grooms drives past a Western defender during the Lady Devils’ 61-20 win at Saturday’s Coach Young Classic. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
Each time the Coach Young Classic graces the court at North Adams High School, one of the games is a varsity girls game, of course always involving the North Adams Lady Devils. On Saturday, Coach Rob Davis and the Lady Devils were matched up with the Western Latham Lady Indians, and the host girls were looking to end a two-game losing streak, two tough conference losses to Eastern Brown and Fairfield.
The Lady Indians turned out to be just the remedy that the North Adams girls needed as Coach Davis and his squad scored the game’s first seven points and never looked back as they cruised to a 61-20 victory, improving their overall record to 12-3.
“Coach (Dave) Young is the one who got me started in coaching,” said Coach Davis in his postgame radio spot. “When the varsity job came open, he asked me if I wanted to do it and I told him I’d try and here I am all these years later. I appreciate him and his family a lot.”
“We knew they had a couple of shooters we needed to close out on and we just wanted to keep pushing and wear them down. Sometimes it’s hard to keep the intensity up and I thought we did a good job of that today and we want that to be a habit.”
That opening seven-point spurt included a Keetyn Hupp three-pointer and a steal and score from Sierra Kendall as the Lady Devils held Western scoreless for the game’s first five minutes. Another Hupp connection from long distance made it 10-2 in a first period that ended with North Adams up 12-4.
Early in the second stanza, a three-pointer by Laney Ruckel made it 17-6 and another long one from Kenlie Jones extended the North Adams lead to 22-8. Two buckets by Ruckel and a put back by Ainsley Grooms capped off an 11-0 run, that was only briefly halted by a three-point play from Western’s Chloe Beekman.
Undaunted, the Lady Devils finished off the first half with an 9-0 run that included three-pointers from Jones and Ruckel and resulted in a commanding 37-11 halftime advantage.
The third quarter was much of the same as the swarming North Adams defense allowed just a single point for over seven minutes, In that span, the Lady Devils got a basket from Hupp, a Sierra Kendall three-pointer plus a p air of two-pointers for the senior guard, a Lizzie Gill three-ball and finally a steal and bucket from Kendall. A three-point goal by Western’s Kenzi Ferneau was the only field goal for the Lady Indians in the third quarter, one that ended with North Adams leading 51-15, meaning the OHSAA running clock rule would be in effect for the entire final period.
Even with the running clock, the Lady Devils were able to put up 10 points in the final period, a total that included a Sydney Figgins three-point goal . The final points of the 12th North Adams win came on a pair of Lizzie Gill free throws as the Lady Devils salvaged a win out of a very challenging week.
As is typically the case, the Lady Devils put a number of girls in the scoring column, this time eight, led by three in double figures, Keetyn Hupp and Laney Ruckel with 12 apiece and Sierra Kendall with 11. Kenlie Jones and Lizzie Gill added 7 each with Sydney Figgins scoring 6. The Lady Devils were hit from the outside, hitting nine three-pointers in the win.
“Keetyn (Hupp) had a good game for us today, she stepped up and hit some shots and got us going,” said Coach Davis. “All our kids know their roles and they come in and fill their minutes. We just have to take care of our business the rest of the season and get some good wins for tournament seeding, and try to get the sectional and get back to districts.”
Western was led by 6 points from Jordyn Rittenhouse.
The Lady Devils will be back in action on Wednesday, January 19, hosting Whiteoak in a make-up Southern Hills Athletic Conference match up. On Saturday, the North Adams girls will be at Eastern Brown High School for the Eastern Hoops Classic where they will face Goshen in an early 9 a.m. tip off.
BOX SCORE
Western Latham
4 7 4 5 — 20
North Adams
12 25 14 10- 61
W. Latham (20): Tackett 0 0-2 0, Rittenhouse 3 0-0 6, K.Marhoover 0 1-2 1, A. Marhoover 2 1-1 5, Beekman 1 1-1 3, Ferneau 2 0-0 5, Team 8 3-6 20.
N. Adams (61): Shupert 1 0-0 2, Kendall 5 0-0 11, Grooms 1 2-4 4, Hupp 5 0-0 12, Ruckel 4 2-2 12, Jones 2 1-2 7, Gill 2 2-3 7, Figgins 2 1-2 6, Team 22 8-13 61.
Three-Point Goals:
W. Latham (1)- Ferneau 1
N. Adams (9) – Kendall 1, Hipp 2, Ruckel 2, Jones 2, Gill 1, Figgins 1
