By John RittenhouseThe Adrian girls’ basketball team split games during a holiday tournament it hosted over the weekend.Worthington, the eventual tournament champion, handed the Dragons their first loss of the season during Friday’s opening round. Adrian bounced back to beat Red Rock Central in the third-place game.The 5-1 Dragons played Fulda in a key Red Rock Conference game Tuesday in Fulda.Adrian 46, RRC 40The Dragons placed third in the tournament by upending the Falcons by six points in Adrian Saturday.RRC led 10-9 after eight minutes of play, but the Dragons outscored the Falcons 37-30 the rest of the way to prevail by six."We played pretty good defense and shot the ball well," said AHS coach Randy Strand.Adrian’s Maria Gengler, who led the Dragons with 19 points and 10 rebounds in the game, netted seven points when the hosts outscored RRC 17-12 in the second quarter to gain a 26-22 halftime lead.The difference remained at four points (36-32) when the third quarter was complete, and AHS led by as many as 12 in the fourth quarter before winning by six.Kylie Heronimus grabbed nine rebounds and recorded five assists for AHS, while Sarah Kruger added six rebounds and five assists. Andrea Lonneman added 10 rebounds to the winning cause.Box scoreHeronimus 2 0 0-1 4, Banck 1 0 0-0 2, Kruger 0 0 3-4 3, Cox 3 0 3-5 9, Lonneman 3 0 3-4 9, Gengler 8 0 3-5 19.Team statisticsAdrian: 17 of 41 field goals (41 percent), 12 of 19 free throws (63 percent), 36 rebounds, 18 turnovers.RRC: 12 of 51 field goals (24 percent), 15 of 21 free throws (71 percent), 17 rebounds, eight turnovers.Worthington 57,Adrian 43Worthington knocked Adrian out of the unbeaten ranks when the Trojans posted a 14-point victory over the Dragons in Adrian Friday.A surge late in the first half by the Trojans and a score of turnovers (31 in the game) proved to be the difference in the contest."We had 31 turnovers and that was our downfall," Strand said. "Their pressure got to us. It wasn’t that they were stealing the ball from us. We just made poor decisions with the ball."Worthington doubled Adrian’s scoring output (16-8) in the first quarter before the Dragons battled back to trail by two points (27-25) late in the first half.The Trojans closed the half with a 7-2 surge to gain a 34-27 halftime lead before outscoring AHS 21-7 in the third quarter to open a 55-34 advantage. The Dragons used a 9-2 scoring cushion in the fourth quarter to trim the difference to 14 points at game’s end.Gengler scored 13 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked seven shots for AHS. Lonneman chipped in 10 points. Kruger had six rebounds and Heronimus recorded six assists.Box scoreHenning 0 0 1-2 1, Heronimus 2 1 0-0 7, Banck 0 0 2-2 2, Kruger 1 0 6-8 8, Lonneman 4 0 2-2 10, Gengler 5 0 3-4 13, Loosbrock 1 0 0-0 2.Team statisticsAdrian: 14 of 32 field goals (44 percent), 14 of 18 free throws (78 percent), 32 rebounds, 31 turnovers.Worthington: 21 of 67 field goals (31 percent), seven of 10 free throws (70 percent), 20 rebounds, 13 turnovers.
