Davis gets 400th career win as Lady Devils bash Ripley

By Mark Carpenter

People’s Defender

The list of words and phrases that describe legends goes on and on and on. for the past 26 varsity basketball seasons at North Adams High School, the legend of Coach Rob Davis has grown and grown and grown. Coach Davis is definitely a legend, but quite a humble one, not endearing to the spotlight, just content to be successful in what he does year after year.

If the coaching accomplishments of Coach Davis weren’t legendary enough, it was cemented even further last Thursday night at Ripley High School. Coming into this 2025-26 season, Davis and his Lady Devils had accumulated 396 career victories, closing in on the 4oo-win milestone. After the Lady Devils dropped their season opener at Portsmouth West, the North Adams girls had string together wins over West Union, Lynchburg and Manchester, leaving Davis just one shy of 400 coming into a December 11 conference battle at Ripley.

with a large contingent of family, friends, former players and supporters on hand, win #400 came with little stress or suspense. After struggling in the opening quarter, the Lady Devils turned it on the rest of the way, outscoring the host Lady Jays 53-7 over the final three quarters to run away with their coach’s 400th career win by a dominant final score of 65-17.

Davis becomes only the second high school basketball coach in Adams County history to reach the 400-win plateau, the other being the later Dave Young, who collected 403 wins over his long coaching career.

“I always looked up to Coach Young and he actually gave me my first coaching job,” said Coach Davis after the historic win. “He first offered me junior high girls but I couldn’t do it because of my work schedule and later a JV girls position came open and.I ended up doing three years JV under Tony Rose and three years under Billie Jo Justice. When Billie Jo left, Dave offered me the varsity job, told me to just try it for a year and we will see how it goes. Now 26 years later I’m still here.”

“My family and all the kids I’ve coached, a lot of them were here tonight, which is special. These aren’t my wins, they’re North Adams wins and I’ve had so many great assistant coaches. My Dad was right there tonight in the front row and Mom is looking down over us and smiling. The community and administration support that I have had, letting me do what I want to do has been great. I’m not done yet, I still enjoy coaching and if I ever come in and it’s like a job, I’ll be done.”

In Thursday night’s action, the Lady Devils struck first with a stickback score from Jaida Harrison, but the Lady Jays answered with a Brooklyn Manning three-pointer to take what turned out to be only two leads of the game for the home team. An “and one” from Tenzlee Burns put North Adams back in front and later a two-pointer from Manning gave Ripley its final lead of the night at 8-7.

A foul call on the home team sent North Adams’ Elizabeth Raines to the charity stripe, where she hot one of two tries. On the miss, the offensive board was grabbed by Sophia Barlow, who scored to put her team in front 10-8. A putback by Ripley’s Callie Fultz tied the game at 10 but yet another offensive board and score, this time by Emma Pistole put the Lady Devils in front 12-10 as the opening period closed.

After that somewhat sluggish first eight minutes, the Lady Devils exploded in the second quarter, turning up their patented defensive pressure and outscoring the Lady Jays 25-2. That dominance began with an 8-0 run , half of those points coming from Burns, before Ripley got their only points of the stanza, a basket by Manning at the five-minute mark, but it was the Lady devils then reeling off the final 17 points of the first half. That run included four baskets in the paint from Emma Pistole, a Harrison three-ball, and three scores from Barlow, all of which added up to a commanding 37-12 halftime advantage for the visitors.

The green and gold onslaught continued after the intermission with the Lady Devils scoring the six points of the third quarter before a Raquel Hackney free throw got Ripley back on the board. That was followed by a Burns trey and then another Burns bucket, this time inside the arc, that made it 48-13 and put the OHSAA running clock rule into effect midway through the third quarter.

After a Manning basket for the Lady Jays, North Adams scored the final 10 points of the third period, getting three-pointers from Burns and Jacee Davis to lead 58-15.

With the clock on the move, the final eight minutes went by rapidly, with the Lady Jays getting just free throws from Hackney and Preslee Hamilton, while North Adams got a late triple from Harrison, capping off a historic night in Adams County Basketball and a 68-15 win.

“We came out playing man tonight, trying to Keep their shooters covered,” explained Coach Davis. “We finally got into our traps and started getting the high-low on offense and then we really got rolling. We came out of the half and I told the girls we couldn’t come out flat, we just had to put them away and I thought our intensity stayed really high.”

In the victory, the Lady Devils placed four players in double figures, led by 19 points from freshman Tenzlee Burns. Emma Pistole added 16, Sophia Barlow 12, and Jaida Harrison 10.

Ripley’s leading scorer was Brooklyn Manning with 9.

The (4-1, 4-0) Lady Devils were scheduled to face Miami Trace in non-conference play on Monday night but that was canceled so their next outing will be on Monday, December 22 when they will travel down Route 32 for a conference match up with the Peebles Lady Indians.

Box Score

North Adams

12 25 21 7 —65

Ripley

10 2 3 2 —17

N. Adams (65): E. Pistole 7 2-2 16, Davis 1 0-0 3, Barlow 6 0-0 12, Burns 7 3-3 19, Harrison 4 0-0 10, Raines 1 3-4 5, Team 26 8-9 65.

Ripley (17): Fultz 1 0-0 2, Hamilton 0 1-2 1, Manning 4 0-0 9, Hackney 1 3-8 5, Team 6 4-10 17.

Three-Point Goals:

N. Adams (5)- Davis 1, Burns 2, Harrison 2

Ripley (1)- Manning 1