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Cottey Comets basketball defeats Wentworth at home
By Eric Wade
Daily Mail Sports Editor
The Cottey College Comets basketball team has been forced to play its last four games on the road, leaving head coach Dave Ketterman's squad road-weary, to say the least. For that reason, Wednesday's home contest against the Lady Red Devils of Wentworth Military Academy was a more than welcome experience.
"It's hard to win games on the road," Ketterman said. "We just needed to play at home. We needed to see what it felt like to play at home and get some confidence, just as much as anything."
Confidence was exactly what the Comets got out of Wednesday's contest, but not just from getting to play at home. The Comets also gained a significant measure of confidence from the fact that even though Wentworth put forth a valiant effort at a second-half comeback, Ketterman's squad held on to take the victory by a final score of 81-70.
"I thought there were some stretches there in the first half where we played like we're very capable of playing," Ketterman said. "We knew that they would come back in the second half, but we just had to hold them off."
Those stretches were all the Comets needed to open up a commanding lead early in the contest.
The first of those stretches opened the night for the Comets and allowed them to pull out to a 28-14 lead before the first comeback effort was sparked for the visitors. That initial surge got the Lady Red Devils back within 10 at 28-18, but the Comets refused to let up and went on a quick 5-0 run to extend their lead back up to 15.
By the time the half came to a close, the Comets had extended the run to 14-6, taking a 42-24 lead into the locker room at halftime.
For the majority of the year, the Comets have had a lot of trouble with fouls, especially when it comes to their most dominant inside players. Wednesday's contest was no exception as the Comets went to the locker room with three players with two fouls or more.
The biggest problem we're having right now is getting our inside players, key players in foul trouble. And that's been the onus for the last four games.
Most notable of those players in early foul trouble is the Comets' most productive offensive player, Casey Heger. Heger's foul troubles continued right into the second half, as well, forcing Ketterman to leave her on the bench far longer than he would have liked.
Thanks to Heger's foul troubles, the Comets were forced to look to other players for their offensive production and those players stepped up in emphatic fashion. Most notable of those players was Cassie Hale, who scored 11 of her team-leading 19 points in the second half.
"Cassie Hale had a good game," Ketterman said. "Cassie has kind of stepped up.
"She's kind of that intermediate player, she's got that intermediate jumper and she's doing a lot better job for us."
Hale was joined in double figures by Heger with 18, Caley Shaffstall and Michela VanGennip with 12 apiece and Linsey Denney with 10. Heger also added 13 rebounds for a double-double.
For Wentworth, four players finished the contest in double figures, led by Shekorya Brower with 24 and Ashlee Cole with 20. Markeisha Corpening finished the night with 13 and Victoria Estreich added 10.
Though the Comets did put forth a dominant performance from the field -- shooting 44 percent to Wentworth's 31 -- the visitors had a clear edge, right from the start, on the offensive boards. In the opening half, the Comets gave up 14 offensive rebounds and Wentworth finished with 28 in the contest to Cottey's 19.
Though the Comets did have their share of struggles -- including 22 turnovers -- Ketterman still left Hinkhouse Center with a smile on his face and attributed most of those struggles to the simple fact that his team is a young one.
"We're still young," he said. "We think we're getting older, but we're still young."
With the win, the Comets improved to 7-8 on the season and will be back in action on Saturday, when they head back out on the road to take on Hesston College. Tipoff in that contest is scheduled for 2 p.m., in Hesston, Kan.