In many ways, it felt like a long time coming. The ADM girls basketball Tigers had been on the brink of pulling off an upset over a ranked team on the road twice before, only to implode in the fourth quarter. This time, they hung on to secure the biggest win of the young Corey Schneider era.
The ADM girls shocked the No. 7 Perry Jayettes Tuesday night at the Perry Sports Pavilion with a 57-54 win that kept fans on the edge of their seats the entire time.
The Tigers were clinging to a 55-54 lead inside of a 30 seconds to play when the Jayette’s Claire Marburger drove and fought up a runner over an ADM double team that resulted in an air ball. ADM sophomore Allie Cook, making her third consecutive start, picked up the rebound and was fouled.
Cook split her pair of free throws, giving the Tigers a two-point lead. On the other end, Erica Tenold missed a long two, but Perry senior Maggie Lowe picked up the miss and was fouled with 2.2 seconds to go. But Lowe missed the front end, and the purposely missed the second. It was an airball to the baseline, which meant no time came off the clock. ADM lobbed to the frontcourt for Cook, who was again fouled, this time with 1.4 seconds to go.
Cook again split the pair, and Marburger’s desperation three-quarters court heave was off the mark, sealing the upset for the Tigers.
The win exorcised demons of past close shaves with ranked teams. On January 13 at No. 4 Carlisle, ADM had a 3-point lead entering the fourth quarter, but were outscored 20-11 in the final period. A week later at No. 12 Pella, they had the same lead entering the fourth but were outscored 17-7 over the final eight minutes.
This time, they hung on to get their first win against a ranked team in seven tries this year. Schneider talked about how his girls were able to seal the win this time around.
“Yea, you knew with Maggie Lowe and Claire Marburger, they were going to make some plays,” he said. “Those two are just too good to shut down for the whole quarter. Luckily, our girls stood tall and we counter-ran with them, and hit some big free throws down the stretch.”
Cook came into the game just 3-of-7 on free throws, but was a cool 4-of-6 from the line, all in the second half. As a team, the Tigers shot 14-of-21 from the line and an impressive 9-of-13 in the fourth quarter.
Senior Kenzi Sutton, who did not start for the first team all season because she rolled ankle in pregame warmups, came off the bench to score a team-high 18 points. Junior Brianna Mueller chipped in 12.
ADM’s clutch performance at the line was just enough to withstand a game-high 29 points from Marburger, the leading scorer in Class 4A. Lowe added 13 but was held without a field goal in the second half. Sophomore Grace Marburger, a starter, sat out due to illness.
The Tigers moved to 8-10 overall and 5-6 in conference play, while Perry fell to 14-5 and 7-4 against the conference. Both teams return to the hardwood on Friday, as the Jayettes will head south to Winterset while the Tigers return home to take on Boone.