ADA — One milestone was reached while another was put on hold when Waynesfield-Goshen and Ada met in girls basketball action Saturday afternoon.
Ada senior Taylor Willeke hit a short pull-up jumper in the lane at the 5:10 mark of the third quarter to become the program's seventh member of the 1,000-point club. She finished the day with a team-high 22 point effort.
Waynesfield-Goshen senior Kaylee Patton, meanwhile, came up five points short in her effort to become the all-time leading scorer in Tigers basketball history. Patton did score a game-high 26 points.
And by the way, the Bulldogs hung on for a hard fought 57-56 win that they hope will propel them to a number one seed in the upcoming district tournament.
“I’m like on cloud nine and all the hard work paid off,” Willeke said. “The win is icing on the cake and we probably got the number one seed. When coach called timeout (after the 1,000 point basket), that was a great feeling.”
Willeke plans to attend Ohio Northern and play basketball and study pharmacy.
“It was nice for her to do it at home, that was special,” Ada coach Neal Dumbaugh said. “She handled it well and now is the seventh girl in the 1,000 point club and that’s pretty cool.”
The game itself was a close contest with the Tigers (11-6) grabbing a 14-12 lead after one period of play. The Bulldogs (11-7) grabbed a 26-20 lead late in the second quarter before Lidia Turner scored twice on consecutive 3-pointers and was also fouled on the second basket. Both treys came off feeds from Patton. The made free throw put W-G up 27-26 and the teams went to the break with Waynesfield-Goshen up 30-28.
“Kaylee sees the floor so well and hits the open people,” said Waynesfield-Goshen coach Ted Patton, Kaylee’s father. “And then Lidia hit those two big shots to keep us in the game.”
The third quarter would prove to be pivotal and Ada picked a good time to get hot as the team connected on 9-of-18 (including 4-of-8 on 3-pointers) field goals to outscore the Tigers 22-12 and grab a 50-42 lead going to the final period of play.
Willeke chipped in with eight third quarter points and sophomore Alexis Amburgey added two big treys to add six points to the Ada total.
“Amburgey hit two big treys in that third period,” Dumbaugh said. “This was a big win for seeding purposes in the tournament.”
Patton poured in 12 final period points, including a trey at the buzzer, but the Ada lead was too much to overcome.
“I’m definitely disappointed that we lost but felt that we played well and it could have gone either way,” said Kaylee Patton, who will play at Tiffin University next year. “It will be a relief once it (the record) happens; there’s not too much pressure but it is in the back of my mind.”
Patton has 1,798 career points. The current record is 1,803 points set by Kyle Herndon in the early 1990s. Patton's next opportunity to break the school record will be Tuesday when Waynesfield-Goshen travels to Hardin Northern.
Sophomore forward Tori Wyss added 11 points for Ada while Abbie VanHorn reached double digits with her 10-point effort for Waynesfield-Goshen.
“She has always had a good nose for the basket,” coach Patton said of Kaylee. “She has worked hard since the fifth and sixth grade and all that hard work is going to pay off, she is a great athlete.”
