North Adams’ Tatum Grooms gets a shot off over the defense of West Union’s Jocelyn Hall (12) in action from the Lady Devils’ conference win on February 8. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)

North Adams’ Tatum Grooms gets a shot off over the defense of West Union’s Jocelyn Hall (12) in action from the Lady Devils’ conference win on February 8. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)

<p>Looking like a running back busting through the line, West Union’s Ashlah Staten splits North Adams defenders on her way to the basket as the two teams battled in SHAC action last week. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)</p>

Looking like a running back busting through the line, West Union’s Ashlah Staten splits North Adams defenders on her way to the basket as the two teams battled in SHAC action last week. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
<p>North Adams’ Taylor Shelton goes up for a shot in traffic as the Lady Devils downed West Union to clinch another Southern Hills Athletic Conference big school championship. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)</p>

North Adams’ Taylor Shelton goes up for a shot in traffic as the Lady Devils downed West Union to clinch another Southern Hills Athletic Conference big school championship. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)

By Mark Carpenter

People’s Defender

Print another t-shirt! Amie Gardner and her crew with the North Adams High School Athletic Boosters have some more work to do as the school continues to produce champions. Along with the North Adams boys basketball squad winning a Southern Hills Athletic Conference, coach Rob Davis and his Lady Devils accomplished the same feat one night earlier. With a 56-31 win over West Union, the North Adams girls finished a 12-1 SHAC season, thereby giving Coach Davis his 11th conference title in his 24th year on the sidelines.

After going 25-1 last season, the Lady Devils lost a large chunk of their scoring to graduation and came back this year small in numbers, but mighty again on the court.

“I’m glad we came out tonight with some energy after a big win over Minford,” said Coach Davis. “I knew we’d be okay this year but I’m not sure I saw this coming. with new people and not being as deep as we have been in the past. We’ve had to change our style of play a little bit but the kids have stepped up and gotten better as the year went by.”

In the February 8 match up at West Union, the Lady Devils broke an early 2-2 tie with an 11-0 run, eventually scoring on seven consecutive possessions to forge a 17-4 advantage. The Lady Dragons got a bucket from Ashlah Staten late in the first period, but a layup from Emma Pistole left the Lady Devils comfortably in front, 21-7 after one.

The visitors extended their lead to 19 points after a Harlee Brand three-point play early in the second quarter, matched later by Annabelle McIntosh hitting a three-pointer for the Lady Dragons. With 21 seconds left in the first half, North Adams senior point guard took a shot to the face and missed the remainder of the game. Brand stepped in at point guard and though at times Coach Davis said she was admittedly nervous, she did an outstanding job of directing the Lady Devils’ offense. At the intermission, the Lady Devils were in front 31-14.

A Shelbi Weakley free throw for the Lady Dragons opened the second half but then the home team went on a long scoreless drought while their visitors ran off 13 in a row. A three-pointer by Taylor Shelton was part of that run that put the Lady Devils in front by a dominating 44-15 score. Before the third stanza ended, the home team got baskets from McIntosh and Staten but it did little to dent a margin that stood at 47-19 after three.

The two teams played on fairly even terms for the game’s final eight minutes with the Lady Devils getting a bucket from Katelynn Boerger and four consecutive free throws from Tatum Grooms. West Union had am eight-point quarter from Staten plus an Olivia Lewis three but as the final buzzer sounded , the Lady Devils had secured yet another SHAC big school crown.

Katelynn Boerger continued her fine play, leading a trio of Lady Devils in double figures with 16 points, a perfect 4 for 4 from the charity stripe. Harlee Brand added 13 and Tatum Grooms 10 (6-7 from the foul line) as North Adams concluded their regular season at 17-5.

“Katelynn (Boerger) has been huge for us lately,” said Coach Davis. “We work with her a lot in practice and she has just continued to get better, especially confidence wise. She and Tatum (Grooms) have been really playing well together. Tatum is our blue collar girl, does all the dirty work for us defensively and she just battles on the boards.”

West Union completed their regular season with a 5-15 mark and junior guard Ashlah Staten led all scorers with 19 points, going 4 for 5 from the free throw line.

The Lady Dragons were in tournament action on Monday night, facing the Eastern Brown Lady Warriors in a Division III sectional semi-final, while North Adams will play on Saturday, February 17 for a sectional championship at 4:30 p.m at Waverly High School.

North Adams

21 10 16 9 —56

West Union

7 7 5 12 —31

N. Adams (56): Grooms 2 6-7 19, Kennedy 1 1-4 3, Boerger 6 4-4 16, Brand 6 1-1 3, Jones 1 0-0 3, T. Shelton 2 1-2 6, E. Pistole 2 1-2 5, Team 20 14-20 56.

W. Union (31): Staten 7 4-5 19, Stout 0 0-2 0, Lewis 2 0-0 5, Weakley 0 2-4 2, McIntosh 2 0-0 5, Team 11 6-11 31.

Three-Point Goals:

N. Adams (2)- T. Shelton 1, Jones 1

W. Union (3)-Staten 1, Lewis 1. McIntosh 1