MADISON TOWNSHIP — One of these days, Madison’s luck is bound to change.
The Rams have suffered through more than their fair share of bad breaks during the past three weeks.
Orrville’s Trinniti Hall hit two free throws with 2.6 seconds remaining after a questionable loose ball foul and the Red Riders escaped Wayne E. Miller Gymnasium with a 59-55 Ohio Cardinal Conference win on Saturday afternoon.
The Rams (5-6, 2-5) dropped their fourth straight game after winning five of their first seven games of the season. Madison’s last two losses were by a combined nine points.
“It’s a game that we should have got it, but we didn’t. That has been a theme for us the last few weeks,” Madison coach Brian Carr said. “We got off to a bad start … and they got a lot of easy shots they shouldn’t have gotten.
“My kids are playing so hard right now. We keep telling them to be patient and good things will come to us toward the end of the season.”
The game was tied 55-55 and the Rams had possession of the ball with 26.7 seconds remaining after an Orrville turnover. Madison played for a final shot, but Fantasia Hood’s jumper was off the mark. The ball hit the floor and in the ensuing scrum, Madison’s Alexis Morris was whistled for the foul on Hall.
An athletic 5-foot-8 sophomore who had misfired on her three previous free throw attempts, Hall calmly hit both ends of the one-and-one to give the Red Riders (5-4, 2-4) a 57-55 advantage.
“When the game was on the line, she stepped up and knocked them down and thank goodness,” Orrville coach Mark Alberts said. “Prior to this one we have lost (some) close games and finally we were able to pull one out.”
Hall was a thorn in Madison’s side all afternoon. She was 6-for-7 from the field in the second half, scoring 14 of her game-high 20 points in the third and fourth quarters. She also swiped a game-high 18 rebounds.
“She’s very selective,” Alberts said. “We’d probably like her to shoot a little bit more. She had 20 points and 18 rebounds. That’s a pretty good day’s work.”
All three of Hall’s third-quarter baskets came on offensive rebounds and putbacks.
“She is a big strong kid,” Carr said of Hall. “She is a nice ball player.”
The Rams trailed 24-22 at the half, but came alive in the third quarter thanks to the long-range marksmanship of seniors Hood, Morris and Molea Thompson. The trio accounted for 16 of Madison’s 17 third-quarter points and combined for four 3-pointers in the period as the Rams took a 39-37 lead to the fourth.
“We made some shots in the third quarter and that allowed us to get into our press,” Carr said. “We were able to force some turnovers and get some easy baskets.”
The Red Riders had no answer when Madison was able to pressure the ball the length of the floor.
“They are very quick, they are very athletic and the one thing they have going for them along with that is they are very experienced. I think Fantasia and Molea are four-year starters,” Alberts said. “We’ve seen them play and we’ve scouted them, so we knew what to expect. We practiced against it, but still you have to get out there and do it. When Molea Thompson is running at you and somebody is in our girls’ faces, they do that really well. We knew that we had to handle the ball in order to beat them.”
Sara Landis backed Hall with 17 points for the Red Riders, including a monster 3-pointer off the left wing to tie the game at 55-55 with 26 seconds remaining after Hood had banked in a trey moments earlier to give the Rams a 55-52 advantage. Kristy Workinger had 12 points, including a pair of treys.
Thompson led Madison with 18 points, while Hood had 16. Morris and Mekaila Grose each had nine. Thompson, Hood and Morris each had three 3-pointers as the Rams connected on more treys (10) than two-point field goals (nine).
In junior varsity action, Madison’s Kendall Bertock scored a game-high 14 points as the Rams knocked off the Red Riders 36-34.
Madison returns to action Thursday, hosting Ashland. The Arrows won the first meeting 63-58 early last week despite trailing 13-4 after the first quarter.
“We’ve got some games coming up that we can get, but we have got to play four quarters of basketball,” Carr said. “We’ve got to get better and that includes the coaches.
“We’ll have mental letdowns and it snow-balls on us but, like I said, the kids are playing hard. I can’t fault the effort.”
Follow Curt Conrad on Twitter @curtjconrad.
“My kids are playing so hard right now. We keep telling them to be patient and good things will come to us toward the end of the season.” – Coach Brian Carr
