By RICK SPRUNGER
MONROE — A strong second quarter and a solid start to the third propelled Southern Wells’ Raiders to a 56-39 win over Adams Central Saturday night.
The win was Southern Wells’ seventh straight, giving it its longest winning streak and strongest start to a season since the 2013 team got off to an 8-0 start 12 years ago. It was also the Allen County Athletic Conference opener for both teams.
“We played pretty well tonight,” said Southern Wells coach Kyle Penrod of his team’s surge in the middle two quarters.
“We weren’t using our transition break in the first quarter,” he continued. “It’s not that that wasn’t the game plan — we just weren’t doing it. We played six games in 12 days to start the season, but we’ve only played once in the two weeks since then. But we went to our trap to get some steals, we put Ashlie Needler back in (after two early fouls), and we started getting some turnovers.”
The Raiders looked sluggish in the early going, spotting Adams Central a quick 15-6 lead.
After Collena Reeves rebounded a missed free throw and put it back in on Southern Wells’ first possession of the game, Penrod’s charges went stone cold.
They went more than nine minutes without another field goal, missing 12 straight shots and committing nine turnovers while Adams Central threatened to run away and hide.
Meanwhile, Needler picked up her second foul with 4:16 left in the first quarter and took a seat.
“I told them that they’re good players and that they just needed to step up and play with more confidence,” said Penrod later.
He also made the decision to reinsert Needler at the 5:51 mark of the second quarter, two fouls and all.
But just before Needler re-entered, Erika Beavans got Southern Wells off the schneid with a three-pointer from the left corner that seemed to light a spark under her team.
That shot launched a 19-2 Southern Wells run that elevated the Raiders from a 15-7 deficit after one quarter to a 26-17 lead with 6:25 left in the third. And right in the middle of it was Needler.
The combination of her presence underneath and the trap out front paid immediate dividends for Southern Wells.
The senior forward scored twice underneath upon re-entering the fray, once on a rebound basket and once on a pretty reverse layup, before a midcourt theft by Kaylee Davis off the trap led to her two free throws that gave the Raiders their first lead of the night at 16-15.
Needler rebounded a Jet miss, and the Raiders pushed the ball up the floor to Davis, whose drive through the lane made it 18-15.
Southern Wells never trailed again.
A Kate Fisher drive got Adams Central back to within 18-17, but Kenzie Paxson scored from underneath, and Reeves added a free throw with 0:00.3 left after a silly Jet foul 30 feet from the basket with Reeves’ back to the hoop.
Adams Central’s second-quarter numbers against the trap: Two points on 1-8 shooting from the field and 11 turnovers.
Needler then started the third quarter with another bucket underneath before feeding Paxson for a three-point play that made it 26-17.
Adams Central got back to within 35-31 and got the ball back, but a big play by Beavans stopped the rally in its tracks.
Beavans stole the ball deep in the right corner, dribbled through a double-team out to midcourt, and then found Kaylea Coffel underneath for a three-point play with 0:13 left in the period.
Davis started the fourth quarter with a three-pointer eight seconds into the stanza, then followed with a steal and a layup on a drive through the lane as Southern Wells ran off another 17-0 spurt to blow the score out to 52-31 and put the game away.
Scoring was evenly spread for Southern Wells, which got a game-high 12 points from Davis, 10 each from Paxson and Needler, eight from Kaylea Coffel, and seven apiece from Beavans and Reeves.
The Raiders were 20-49 from the field for the game for a 40% shooting percentage and outrebounded the Jets, 38-33, while forcing 27 turnovers.
Adams Central (1-6) hit just eight of 35 shots after the first quarter for a 22% percentage during that span.
The Jets also failed to land a player in double figures, getting a team-high nine points from Ellie Ogg.
“This will happen in steps,” said Penrod of his efforts to turn around a program that has struggled in recent years. “Right now, we’re beating the teams we should beat. The next step will be to start beating the top teams on our schedule.”
Southern Wells also copped the junior varsity contest, 29-26.
Remi Holmes scored 12 points and Cadence Watkins eight for Southern Wells, which also got five points from Lexi Pennington and two apiece from Jailynn Chase and Lillia Paxson.
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SOUTHERN WELLS 56, ADAMS CENTRAL 39
At Adams Central
SOUTHERN WELLS (7-1, 1-0 ACAC): Erika Beavans 2-6 2-2 7, Kaylee Davis 3-9 5-8 12, Collena Reeves 3-9 1-2 7, Kenzie Paxson 3-8 4-7 10, Ashlie Needler 5-8 0-0 10, Kaylea Coffel 3-4 1-1 8, Aubree Meyer 0-2 0-2 0, Cadence Watkins 0-0 0-0 0, Callie Ripperger 1-3 0-0 2, Remi Holmes 0-0 0-0 0, Lillia Paxson 0-0 0-0 0. TOTAL: 20-49 13-22 56.
ADAMS CENTRAL (1-6, 0-1 ACAC): Tenley Hendricks 2-9 0-0 6, Kate Fisher 3-9 0-0 7, Izzy Isch 2-7 3-4 7, Ava Stafford 2-8 4-6 8, Ellie Ogg 4-11 0-0 9, Sophia Ward 0-0 0-0 0, Myla Ellenberger 0-2 0-0 0, Demi Landis 1-1 0-0 2, Adia Hildebrand 0-1 0-0 0, Cali Dalrymple 0-0 0-3 0. TOTAL: 14-48 7-13 39.
Southern Wells 7 14 17 18 — 56
Adams Central 15 2 14 8 — 39
Three-point Shooting: Southern Wells 3-12 (Beavans 1-2, Davis 1-3, C. Reeves 0-2, Coffel 1-2, Meyer 0-1, Ripperger 0-2), Adams Central 4-19 (Hendricks 2-5, Fisher 1-4, Stafford 0-5, Ogg 1-5. Rebounds: Southern Wells 38 (Reeves 6, Needler 6, Meyer 5), Adams Central 33 (Isch 8). Turnovers: Southern Wells 23, Adams Central 27. Personal fouls: Southern Wells 17, Adams Central 23. Fouled Out: Stafford. Technical fouls: None.
Junior Varsity: Southern Wells 29, Adams Central 26.
