Once the Ada girls got a bit of separation from a scrappy Tuttle squad, the Lady Cougars made sure they would stay on top from the free-throw line.

Ada finished a perfect 19-of-19 from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter and kept the Lady Tigers at arm’s length in a 64-58 victory Thursday afternoon at the Class A Area Tournament held inside the Chickasha Activity Center.

Ada improved to 19-8 on the year and was scheduled to meet the Newcastle-Elgin winner today at 1:30 p.m. back in Chickasha. Tuttle is done at 14-12.

The Lady Cougars trailed 23-21 at halftime and were probably fortunate to be that close after committing a whopping 15 turnovers throughout the first two quarters and having playmaker Sami Jewett pick up her third foul at the 5:46 mark of the second period.

“We were really, really nervous — some more than others,” Ada head coach Christie Jennings said of her team’s slow start. They got us in foul trouble, we turned the ball over and took stupid shots.”

Tuttle built its biggest lead of the game after a 3-pointer by Peyton Garrett put the Lady Tigers on top 30-25 at the 4:27 mark of the third period.

Ada then went on a game-changing 16-4 surge to end the quarter and led 41-34 heading into the final eight minutes.

After the Lady Tigers had trimmed their deficit to 43-39, Haley Dean hit a pair of free throws, Aaliyah Blakley converted a three-point play and Kyndel Carter added two more free shots to push the Ada advantage back to double figures at 50-39.

And then the Lady Cougars would stop making free throws. Tuttle even hit two 3-pointers, made an old fashioned three-point play and hit three free shots after being fouled from behind the arc — all in the final 1:07 — but couldn’t make much progress in a comeback attempt thanks to Ada’s red-hot free throw shooting. After the 19 free throws in the fourth quarter, Ada finished the game 27-of-31 compared to 12-of-17 showing by Tuttle.

“We settled down a bit in the second half. That’s just what happens when you’re inexperience as far as getting to this point. But we’re getting a little more experience every game,” Jennings said. “It’s good to be shooting good from the free-throw line at this time of the year.”

Blakley scored 17 of her game-high 25 points in the big second half — including a pair of big 3-point shots during the closing minutes of the third quarter. She also had 10 rebounds.

Jewett, Dean, Carter and Olivia Wells all added eight points in the balanced Ada effort.

Reasons you might be confused:

• Ada shut out Duncan in two of the four quarters.

• Ada won the game by 35 points.

• The Lady Cougars won for the 16th time in 23 games.

• Only two players on the Lady Demons’ 14-person squad actually scored points against the Lady Cougars.

• Aaliyah Blakley scored two less points (17) than the entire Duncan squad.

We’ll have no more of that, girls.

The average basketball reader just has to understand: Coaches are a tough sale, and they know competition when they see it. Jennings, though she’d never come right out and say it, saw no competition for the last three quarters of Tuesday night’s 54-19 victory over Duncan, and true enough, her team was a little sloppy at times.

It was actually a game of streaks inside the Cougar Activity Center, some streaks admittedly lasting a whole lot longer than others.

That was the theme of the night for the Ada Lady Cougars, who shot their way past arch-rival McAlester 58-33 Tuesday night inside the Cougar Activity Center.

Ada, ranked No. 18 in Class 4A, improved to 13-7 on the year, while McAlester — No. 17 in Class 5A — left town at 8-10.

During a January road matchup with McAlester, Ada junior Aaliyah Blakley had scorched the Lady Buffaloes for a season-best 30 points in the Lady Cougars’ 44-30 victory.

Tuesday night, McAlester was bound and determined to keep that from happening again, running a box-and-1 defense against Blakley and double-teaming her every chance they got. Blakley scored just six points in each half and attempted just two field goals in the paint during the first two quarters combined. But McAlester’s focus on Ada’s post player left the rest of her teammates open for most of the game, and they all had the green light to fire away from 3-point territory.

The Lady Buffs trailed just 11-10 after Kaleisha Johnson ended the first quarter with a steal and layup and hit a jumper to start the second. However, Ada sank three of its six first-half 3-pointers during a 13-0 run that followed that put Ada on top 24-10.

So, many Ada fans were likely scratching their collective heads when Durant bolted to an 18-11 first-quarter lead and carried a 33-26 lead into the halftime break during a rematch Tuesday night.

But Ada head coach Christie Jennings saw her team’s slow start coming.

"I think we came out thinking we were still playing a continuation of the game we played last time we faced Durant. We came out very lackluster," Ada's first-year coach said following the game. "We did not have our heads right in pregame. I had to get on them in the locker room for joking around."

The Lady Cougars got serious in a hurry during an impressive 18-1 run to open the third quarter and went on to breeze past the Lady Lions 62-47.

Newcastle —

Both Ada High basketball teams had problems shaking free of their Woodward opponents during first-round contests Thursday afternoon during the 2013 Newcastle Invitational.

But both Ada squads found ways to win in the fourth quarter.

In the girls contest, the Lady Cougars trailed 34-31 heading into the final period but pitched a fourth-quarter shutout and rallied past the Boomers for a 40-34 victory.

The Ada girls improved to 10-5 overall and were scheduled to meet the Newcastle-Noble winner today at 4:20 p.m., while Woodward fell into the loser’s bracket at 2-13 and has lost five straight games.

“I was really pleased when you consider how sick we’ve been on and off — it’s going through us like wildfire,” Ada head coach Christie Jennings said following the game. “We’re just here to get wins. They don’t have to be pretty, we just want to win at the end of the day.”