ASHLAND – Trailing badly early, the Ashland Arrows had the Madison Lady Rams right where they wanted them on Monday night.
Down 13-4 after the first quarter, Ashland roared back to claim a 63-58 victory in an Ohio Cardinal Conference girls’ basketball game.
“Our previous three games, we had 6-0 leads early and went on to lose all three games,” veteran coach Jason Snow said. “Tonight, we got off to a bad start and got into foul trouble … so I told the girls tonight we would be the ones to come back and win.”
The win improved Ashland’s record to 7-3 overall and 3-3 in the OCC. Madison slipped to 5-5 and 2-4 in the league. Both teams came into the game desperate for a league victory since unbeaten West Holmes leads the OCC at 5-0 with Mansfield Senior and Wooster tied for second at 4-1.
Madison dominated the game early, utilizing the play of junior post Mekaila Grose, who connected on seven of 10 foul shots in the first half alone. Despite the big early lead, Madison coach Brian Carr knew the Arrows would battle back.
“It was a good basketball game,” he said. “We did jump out early, but I have been coaching against Jason for years and I knew Ashland would make a run. We figured whoever made the most mistakes in the fourth quarter would lose the game.”
The Ashland run began as soon as the second quarter started. The Arrows settled into a better rhythm at both ends of the court and outscored the Lady Rams 21-10 in the period, taking a 25-23 lead into halftime.
“The second group we subbed in tonight did a tremendous job,” Snow said.
While the Arrows were getting a great lift from their bench, Madison were powered by two high-scoring seniors, most of it come from long range. Wing Fantasia Hood had 22 points, including 17 in the second half. Point guard Molea Thompson added 19 points, 13 in the final two periods. The Rams connected on eight triples in the game on 24 attempts, including four from Thompson and three from Hood.
“Those two are our main outside threats,” Carr said. “Fantasia shoots the ball extremely well from the outside. Mo handles the ball so much for us that she gets fatigued, but she can still hit from long range.”
Hood scored 15 points in a five-minute stretch of the third period, keeping Rams in the game. Ashland never trailed in the third quarter, but its biggest lead came at 35-30 with 4:23 left before settling for a 43-39 edge heading into the final quarter.
Ashland built a 58-50 lead in the fourth quarter with 2:20 left in the game, but the Lady Rams refused to fold. Hood hit a pair of foul shots and a triple as Madison closed to 59-56 with just 42 seconds left. After Ashland senior guard Cassidy Yetzer missed one of two foul shots at the 39-second mark, Thompson scored to make it 60-58 with still 20 seconds left.
Yetzer again split a pair of free throws, giving Madison a chance to tie. But Hood’s long-range triple rimmed off and Ashland junior Shelby White closed the scoring with two free throws with just 3 seconds left.
In addition to Hood and Thompson, Grose finished with eight points and 14 rebounds. Senior Alexis Morris added seven points. Hood collected seven rebounds. The Rams shot 33 percent from the field (17 of 52) and 69 percent from the line (16 of 23).
Senior forward Alexis Stoops led Ashland with 18 points and nine rebounds. White had 15 points and eight rebounds. Yetzer added 10 and junior Sydni Carpenter added eight. The Arrows shot 43 percent from the field (22 of 51) and 69 percent at the line (16 of 23).
Both teams took care of the ball, combining for just 20 turnovers (11 for Madison, nine for Ashland).
Madison came from behind to win the JV game, 38-34. Junior Kendall Bertoch led the Lady Rams with 11 points. Sophomore Kaylee Howe added nine and sophomore Tieria Bowens had seven. Freshman Ryleigh Honaker had nine for Ashland and sophomore Olivia Vinsack added eight.
Madison hosts Orrville on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. in an OCC game that will played inside the gymnasium of the new junior high school. Ashland hosts Ontario on Thursday.
