Cottey Comets drop third consecutive game

Tessa Porter goes up for two in the lane as she's closely guarded by North Central's Colleen Sullivan. Porter finished the evening with 18 points for the Comets. --Steve Reed/Special to the Daily Mail

The Cottey College Comets' woes against Region XVI opponents continued Tuesday night as they lost their third consecutive regional game. This time, it was to the North Central Missouri College Lady Pirates, 74-67.

Both teams struggled to score early. A slight rebounding advantage allowed the Comets to keep the Lady Pirates from getting second-chance shots. Both teams appeared to be evenly matched in shooting ability and the Comets grabbed a slight edge in the first half, grabbing their second lead of the night at 10-9. Cottey was able to move the lead to four points, 17-13, on an Alex Noble 3-pointer about 10 minutes into the game.

The Lady Pirates made a run, however, and regained the lead at 21-19 and despite the Comets' best efforts, the home team never led again, although they came close on several occasions. In fact, they pulled within a single point at 32-31 on two Amanda Sanders free throws with 34 seconds left in the first half, but the visitors from Trenton, Mo., were able to score one more time before the buzzer. The Comets trailed 34-31 at the break.

The second half began where the first half left off, with both teams battling back and forth. Cottey trailed by four at 36-32, when the officials called time. One of the North Central players had a bloody nose and the official time-out was used to clean blood from the floor.

The almost 5-minute delay seemed to cool off the Comets. The home team did score the next basket to make it 36-34, but could do nothing else right for the next 2 minutes as the Lady Pirates went on an 8-0 run to build the lead to 10 at 44-34 with 15 minutes to play.

After that run, Noble did get loose inside and hit a basket in the lane while being fouled. She sank her free throw and cut the lead to seven. North Central, however, answered with their own 3-pointer and the lead was back to 10.

The Comets never gave up and kept chipping away. A Natascha Lord bucket at the 8-minute mark brought the Comets within three at 55-52. The Lady Pirates were equally persistent and built the lead back to six points on a 3-point play of their own.

Again the Comets cut the lead to three points, 62-59, but North Central had a 7-0 run to knock the lead back to 10 at 69-59 with 3 minutes to play.

At this stage, the game became a free throw shooting contest as both teams were fouling and sending the other to the line. Bailey Beale hit a basket inside and was fouled. She hit the bonus shot to cut the lead to seven points, 69-62.

On the other end of the floor, North Central's Colleen Sullivan missed four consecutive free throws while the Comets were making theirs. This allowed Cottey to close the gap to three points at 69-66 with 1:32 remaining. Unfortunately for the Hinkhouse crowd, the Lady Pirates regained their touch at the line, and the Comets could only squeeze out one more point before the final buzzer.

Noble led the Comets with 19 points and 11 rebounds for a double-double. Close behind in scoring was Tessa Porter with 18 points. Also in double figures was Sanders with 11 points.

Beale, normally a long-range scoring threat who finishes in double figures, was held in check by the North Central defense. She finished with four points and hit only one field goal with only 2:37 left in the game.

The loss dropped the Comets to 10-9 on the year and 3-5 against Region XVI teams. The next home game for Cottey will be on Saturday, Feb. 6, when they face St. Louis Community College-Forest Park. That game will tip off at 2 p.m., inside the friendly confines of Hinkhouse Gymnasium.