with his team’s 57-27 win over Ironton on January 9, Coach Rob Davis from North Adams became Adams County’s all-time winningest coach in high school basketball history, girls or boys, getting his 403rd career victory. (Photo by Tim Daulton)
Win over Ironton, SHAC loss to Eastern Brown
North Adams’ Ava Pistole finds her path to the basket blocked off by Eastern Brown’s Sophia Uhl in action for the two teams’ SHAC clash on January 10. It was Uhl who ended up with the upper hand as she scored 25 points to lead Eastern to a 47-43 victory. (Photo by Tim Daulton)
North Adams’ Bella Gray (12) scores on a layup late in the fourth quarter of the Lady Devils’ 57-27 win over Ironton on January 9. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
It was a roller coaster weekend for Coach Rob Davis and his North Adams Lady Devils basketball squad, ending in an even split- one win and one big loss. In a rare Friday night girls’ affair, the Lady Devils hosted the Ironton Lady Tigers and came away with a relatively easy and historic 57-27 victory. On Saturday evening, the Lady Devils were back in Southern Hills Athletic Conference action hosting the Eastern Lady Warriors with an outcome that created quite the logjam at the top of the big school division standings.
The Friday night Ironton contest started sloppy, the combined first four offensive possessions all ending in turnovers before a jumper by North Adams’ Tenzlee Burns broke the scoring ice. The Lady Devils never trailed from that point on, building a 10-2 advantage behind six points from Emma Pistole. By the end of the first quarter, the home team was in front 15-6.
North Adams continued to build the lead as the second stanza progressed, begging with an old-fashioned three-point play from Burns. A medium range jumper from Emma Pistole made it 23-11 and a step back trey from Burns gave the Lady Devils a 28-16 halftime advantage.
The lead continued to balloon in quarter number three, the Lady Devils opening on a 6-2, two-thirds of those points coming from the charity stripe, courtesy of Ava Pistole and Elizabeth Raines. Near the end of the third, the hosts went on a 6-0 run, getting a putback score from Sophia Barlow and a steal and score from Burns to lead 42-22.
The final eight minutes of action were again dominated by Coach Davis’s squad as they got a three-pointer from Jacee Davis and an impressive offensive rebound and score from the smallest player on the floor, sophomore Jaida Harrison. The final two baskets of the game came from North Adams’ Bella Gray as the Lady Devils coasted home with the 30-point victory.
“I thought we hit the boards hard tonight, especially against Ironton’s physicality,” said Coach Davis after the win. “We just still have trouble putting the ball in the hole. I thought our energy was good and we just have some things to clean up.”
The win was the 403rd in the storied career of Coach Rob Davis, allowing him to surpass Dave Young as the all-time winningest basketball coach , girls or boys, in Adams County history. In his 26th year at the helm in North Adams, it is a record that may never be topped and couldn’t belong to a more deserving man.
Box Score
Ironton
6 10 6 5 —27
North Adams
15 13 14 15 —57
Ironton (27): Neal 3 2-2 10, McCall 4 4-8 12, Lewis 0 0-2 0, Royal 1 0-2 3, Murray 0 2-4 2, Team 8 8-18 27.
N. Adams (57): E. Pistole 5 4-6 14, Davis 1 1-2 4, Barlow 1 1-3 3, Burns 7 3-3 18, Gray 2 0-1 4, A. Pistole 2 3-4 7, Harrison 2 0-0 4, Raines 1 1-2 3, Team 21 13-21 57.
Three Point Goals:
Ironton (3)- Neal 2, Royal 1
N. Adams (2)- Davis 1, Burns 1
Each year the Lady Devils and the Eastern Lady Warriors play one of their conference rivalry games on a Saturday evening and this year’s battle was set for January 10 in Seaman. Fans who view the North Adams-Eastern contest can expect an intense, tight game and Saturday was no exception. Both coaches and both teams know each other well and usually the outcome comes down to which squad executes their game plan batter. This time it was Coach Kevin Pickerill with the plan and the girls who played it out to near perfection. With their defense holding North Adams’ leading scorer to just a single point and his offense getting a career-high 25 points from sophomore Sophia Uhl, the Lady Warriors moved into a tie for the top spot in the big school division of the SHAC with a 47-43 triumph.
“I knew this was going to be a battle, it always is whenver we play North Adams,” said Coach Pickerill in his postgame radio spot. “Rob (Davis) is always going to have his team ready but we put a little plan together and it ended up paying off. I like to try and take the best player out of it and see how it goes, but North Adams has other kids who can pick up the slack. I thought they started to get a little tired and it showed. Once we got in our defense and got comfortable with it, we played it well, we just had a lot of energy and focus tonight and it had to be Sophia’s best all-around game of her career.”
“We’ve worked a couple of days on this game and I’m proud of our girls tonight.”
As it seems like they always do, the Eastern and North Adams girls struggled to score as the game began, with the Lady Devils leading most of the way, going up 9-4 on a Jacee Davis three-pointer with 1:30 left in the first. Eastern got a pair of free throws from Bently Burns before a long two-pointer from Elizabeth Raines gave the home side an 11-6 advantage after eight minutes of up and down action.
A bucket by Ava Pistole opened the second period for North Adams but the Lady Warriors answered with a basket from Sophia Uhl and a three-ball from Alyssa Fisher to quickly close the gap to 13-11. The Lady Devils’ lead stretched back to six after baskets from Emma Pistole and Sophia Barlow, but it was Sophia Uhl responding with a drive to the left side that resulted in a three-point play.
Again, the momentum shifted to the home side after a stickback from Barlow and another Davis three-pointer., but the unstoppable Uhl scored two more baskets in the last 30 seconds to pull the Lady Warriors to within 24-18 at halftime.
After the intermission, North Adams opened up a 29-20 lead on a Jaida Harrison three-pointer and a score inside from Emma Pistole but the resilient Lady Warriors bounced back with a 6-0 run to pull back within three. A later triple on an out of bounds play by Harrison put North Adams up four but Eastern rallied with the final three points of the third stanza and with eight minutes left to go , the Lady Devils’ lead had been whittled down to 34-33.
As the fourth quarter began, the Lady Warriors reclaimed the lead on a steal and score from Olivia Uhl and the tone for the period was set. The Lady Devils tied the game on a free throw but the visitors opened their biggest lead of the game at 39-35 on baskets by Burns and Sophia Uhl. With the tension building on both sides of the gymnasium, the two teams traded baskets, a steal and layup from Harrison pulling the Lady Devils within 41-39 with four minutes to play.
a basket by Fisher put Eastern back up by four, answered by a nice baseline drive and score by Barlow. Both sides then went scoreless for over two minutes before a Sophia Uhl drive and score with 17 seconds left put Eastern up 45-41. An Emma Pistole offensive rebound and score cut the deficit back to two as the clock wound down and Coach Davis used a timeout with 5.2 seconds left. The Lady Devils faced a dilemma of only having two team fouls and trying to foul three times to put the Lady Warriors at the line in a five-second span. They got that done and sent Sophia Uhl to the line with 2.1 seconds remaining. The Eastern sophomore was up to the moment, as she had been all night, calmly sinking both free tosses to put the finishing touches on the 47-43 win for the Lady Warriors.
It was Uhl’s stat line that was the obvious difference in this contest- 25 points, 6 rebounds, 4 steals and 2 assists.
The Lady Devils were led in scoring by Emma Pistole’s 14 points, with Jaida Harrison and Jacee Davis adding 8 each. The Eastern defense put the clamps on North Adams’ leading score, freshman Tenzlee Burns, holding her to just one point in the game.
The loss dropped the Lady Devils to 7-3 on the season, 5-2 in conference play. Eastern improved to 9-3 on the year, also 5-2 at the top of the SHAC big school division. Lurking behind those top two are Ripley at 3-3 in the conference and West Union at 2-4.
Coach Davis and his squad faced another tough conference test on Monday night as they hosted the Whiteoak Lady Wildcats, then on Thursday they will host the West Union Lady Dragons, also a conference contest. The North Adams girls will finish their week on Saturday, January 17 in the Coach Young Classic, hosting Williamsburg.
Box Score
Eastern Brown
6 12 15 14 —47
North Adams
11 13 10 9 —43
E. Brown (43): Grimes 1 1-2 3, Fisher 2 0-0 5, O. Uhl 2 0-0 4, S. Uhl 11 3-3 25, Burns 2 2-4 6, Team 20 6-9 47.
N. Adams (47): E. Pistole 5 4-6 14, Davis 3 0-0 8, Barlow 3 0-0 6, Burns 0 1-2 1, A. Pistole 1 0-0 2, Harrison 3 0-0 8, Raines 2 0-0 4, Team 17 5-8 43.
Three-Point Goals:
E. Brown (1)- Fisher 1
N. Adams (4)- Davis 2, Harrison 2
