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Comets take home hard fought win
"It was ugly, but it was a win," Cottey Comets head coach Dave Ketterman said after the Comets beat Forest Park Lady Highlanders 71-66 Saturday afternoon in their final regular season home game.
The win on Saturday gave Cottey a 14-6 overall record and 5-3 against Region 16 teams while Forest Park is 6-30 overall and 2-7 in Region 16 play.
"Fourteen is nice. Last year we had 14 wins total," he said.
Cottey still has two regular season games left. They play at Penn Valley Community College, Kansas City, tonight and on Feb. 18 they have a make-up game with North Central Missouri College in Trenton. In addition the Comets have at least one Region 16 play-off game Feb. 23 with either St. Louis-Forest Park or St. Louis-Florissant Valley, that Ketterman thinks will be played at home.
Ketterman said that it was a very physical game and because of his limited number of players it is hard for them to practice for that kind of competition.
He said that with only eight players he cannot take a chance of anyone getting injured in a hard practice.
"I knew as soon as the press came we would be in trouble," he said. "I'm proud of the way our kids hung in there."
Ketterman said that Tulsa, Okla. freshman Jessica Roberts was sick on Saturday, but still scored 16 points and hit two key three-pointers with about four minutes left in the game.
He also mentioned that one of the keys to Cottey's success is to get the ball to Springfield sophomore Melissa Hedges.
"We want the ball in her hands. She shoots 90 percent at the line," he said.
However, Ketterman said that is getting harder to do because other teams have found out how deadly she is when fouled and they are starting to deny her the ball.
According to the National Junior College Athletic Association Web site, as of Feb. 11 Hedges ranks number four in the nation among Division 2 junior colleges with 89.89 percent from the charity stripe, with 80-89 attempts.
Cottey freshman Brittany Smith led both teams in scoring with 25 points, including one trey and with 10-17 free throws, followed by Jessica Roberts with 16 points, including two treys, Melissa Hedges with 14 points and 6-7 free throws, Molly Frick with seven points, Liz Waggoner with six points and Meleah Painter with three points.
Forest Park freshman Antania Williams led the Lady Highlanders with 19 points, followed by Shaerika April with 14 points, Rana Boyd with 11 points, Latisha Coleman and Theresa Hall with six points each, Jasmine Yandell and Jasmine Kirksey with four points each and Andrea Jones with two points.