The Corey Schneider era for ADM Girls basketball began with a victory, as the first-year head coach of the Tigers won a hard-fought debut over the visiting Norwalk Warriors, 55-51, Monday night in Adel.

Molly Jacobson sealed the victory by sinking four free throws in the final minute of the game. She finished with a team-high 18 points on a perfect 9-of-9 shooting from the line. With the score tied at 51-51 and 90 seconds remaining, Jacobson was fouled by freshman Shae Campbell and drained both free throws to give ADM the lead for good.

Norwalk had several chances to re-tie the game the following possession. Junior Shelby Nelson airballed a three, and it looked like Norwalk’s Tori VanVelzen would come up with the offensive rebound. But Jacobson stripped the ball loose, fell on it and was fouled, and proceeded to make the game-clinching free throws with 1.2 seconds remaining.

Both teams traded runs throughout the first half, during which ADM’s offense ran through junior guard Brianna Mueller, who finished with 14 points. The scoring was more balanced in the second half, when ADM started to pull away toward the end of the third quarter before Norwalk came storming back. Sophomore Allie Cook and senior Emily Hofmann finished with seven points each, sophomore Sydney Bertman had four, Kenzi Sutton had three and Sydney Canney finished with two.

Norwalk’s 51 points, meanwhile, were spread among just  three players, two of them freshmen.  Miranda Hughes finished with a game-high 21 points and four made 3’s, while her fellow freshman, Campbell, chipped in 14. VanVelzen had 16 points.

ADM did a good job of limiting VanVelzen in the second half after the 6-footer torched ADM’s undersized post players in the first half. Hughes and Campbell had some key missed 3’s down the stretch, and Jacobsen came through in the clutch to seal the season-opening victory.

The Tigers are back in action tonight with a road tilt at Van Meter. Tip is scheduled for 7:30.