Comets lose rematch with Hesston College
Nevada Daily Mail
NEVADA, Mo. -- The Cottey Comets were their own worst enemy Tuesday against the Hesston (Kan.) College Larks. Fouling early and often, the Comets sent the Larks to the line too many times, and Hesston's 27 points from the charity stripe helped them defeat the hosting Comets, 70-61.
The Comets did enter the game shorthanded.
Melissa Hedges is still recovering from knee surgery, and outside shooting threat Kerri Shanks was still limping from the effects of an ankle sprain and was unable to play.
Still, the Comets seemed to have things under control early, using the break and their two bid inside threats, All-American Lacy Leonard and Sara Sellin, to pull out to a comfortable 12-6 lead in the opening minutes. The Comets were able to maintain a five- to seven- point lead throughout much of the opening 20 minutes.
Cottey built the lead to eight at 23-15 with eight minutes to play and looked to have the game under control. In fact, the Comets had three chances to get the lead into double digits, but never could connect. Going cold from the field, and continuing to foul, allowed Hesston to climb back into the game. The Comets went four minutes without a point until a nifty move by Leonard gave Cottey a five-point lead once again at 25-20. Two more baskets by Leonard had the lead at 29-22 with two minutes to play. That's when the wheels fell off the Cottey bandwagon.
Hesston outscored Cottey 10-2 in the last two minutes to go into the break with a 31-32 lead instead of trailing as they had much of the first half. The Larks scored 12 of their 32 first-half points from the free-throw line, and the Comets had only themselves to blame for the momentum swing.
The Comets scored the first five points of the second half on a basket by Leonard and a three-pointer by Elin Lindberg, but fouls and turnovers came back to bite the Comets. Hesston did switch to a full court man defense, which seemed to cause problems for Cottey. Bad passes against the pressure led to turnovers, and the Comets fouled often trying to get back on defense. The Larks were deadly from the free throw line, and the strategy worked well for them as they went on an 11-0 run to turn a four-point deficit into a seven-point lead.
Cottey definitely needed an outside scoring threat as the Hesston defense pressured the ball and often kept it out of the hands of Leonard and Sellin, and when the two did get it, the defense would often collapse inside leaving them little opportunity to shoot.
The Comets were down by as many as 13 points midway through the half. They had managed to cut the lead to 10 when they began an amazing run with about six minutes left in the game. Outstanding defense by Cottey denied Hesston scoring opportunities, and the Comets began to score themselves. Guard Maggie Wigness had a pair of short jumpers from the right side, and Lindberg hit two free throws. Sellin shook free inside for a bucket, and suddenly it was a 60-66 game with just over three minutes to play. The Hinkhouse crowd, quiet for most of the night, finally had something to cheer about, and they got loud in a hurry. Hesston fouled Leonard sending her to the line for two, and the fans could sense the miracle comeback in the making, especially when Leonard hit her first free throw to cut the lead to 61-66. Hesston's coach called a time out after the first shot to discuss his team's strategy.
After the timeout, Leonard stepped to the line with a chance to cut the lead to four, but missed the second shot. Hesston rebounded and pushed the ball down court where Cottey fouled in the lane, sending the Larks to the line again. Hesston hit both charity shots to build the lead back to seven at 61-68. Cottey left another seven points on the floor in the last two minutes with two missed free throws, a missed three-pointer, and a shot inside the lane.
Leonard led the Comets with 19 points and eight rebounds. Sellin added 16 points and five rebounds, and Lindberg had 13 points and six assists.
The Comets' record fell to 5-2 with the loss. Cottey has one game remaining before the holiday break. On Saturday, the team will travel to St. Louis to play St. Louis Community College-Meramec at 3 p.m. The Comets do not have another home game until Tuesday, Jan. 23, when they will face North Central Missouri College at 7 p.m.