By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
The 2022-23 girls basketball season has gotten off to a solid start for Coach Rob Davis and his North Adams Lady Devils. After starting their campaign with a trio of Southern Hills Athletic Conference victories, the Lady Devils stretched their season-opening win streak to four as they traveled to Batavia on Saturday, December 20 and handed the host Lady Bulldogs a 54-38 non-conference loss.
The Lady Devils had to come from behind to pull off the weekend win, trailing 10-9 after one quarter and 23-22 at halftime. But a second half step-up in defense allowed the visitors to take a seven-point lead after three quarters and then hold the Lady Dogs to just five fourth quarter points to win running away.
The third quarter rally was fueled by a pair of baskets froKatelynn Boerger, a three-point goal by Kenlie Jones (her third of the day) and seven points from leading scorer Keetyn Hupp. The third period closed with North Adams up 40-33 and three-pointers by Hupp and Laney Ruckel in the final period led the way to the eventual 17-point Lady Devils’ triumph.
Hupp led the winners with 17 points, followed by Jones with 13, Ruckel added 9 and Boerger 8 for the now 4-0 Lady Devils.
Batavia’s Jada Shepherd led all scorers with 21 points.
After Saturday’s win, the Lady Devils faced a busy week, beginning with a home conference battle with Ripley on Monday, December 12. On Thursday, North Adams will host Southeastern in non-conference play before a huge SHAC road trip on Saturday night when they travel to Eastern Brown to face the Lady Warriors in an early-season big school division showdown.
North Adams 54
Batavia 38
North Adams
9 13 18 14 —54
Batavia
10 13 10 5 —38
N. Adams (54): M. Shelton 0 0-2 0, Boerger 2 4-4 8, Hupp 7 2-3 17, Ruckel 4 0-2 9, Brand 2 1-2 5, Jones 5 0-0 13, T. Shelton 1 0-0 2, Team 20 7-13 54.
Batavia (38): McHenry 0 3-3 3, Poynter 1 0-0 2, Layman 2 0-0 4, Lugo 1 0-0 2, Shepherd 8 5-8 21, South 3 0-0 6, Team 15 8-11 38.
Three-Point Goals:
N. Adams (5)- Hupp 1, Ruckel 1, Jones 3
