Comets drop 77-76 heartbreaker

In a fast-paced and exciting game, the Cottey Comets hosted the visiting Lady Pirates from North Central Missouri College in Trenton on Tuesday night. After almost 40 minutes of battle, who would prevail would be decided in the last few seconds.

Alas, it was not meant to be for the Comets. With eight of the Pirates' 12 players scoring, the eight member Comets' squad had their hands full. Three ties and six lead changes kept both teams and fans alike on their toes.

It started ominously for the Comets ---- with less than 15 seconds off the clock, North Central's Nancy Berwanger hit a 3-pointer to give the visitors the early lead. Before the first minute was up, Cottey's Sydney Rose was fouled while shooting and hit both charity tosses.

Greg Kepler/Speical to the Daily Mail/ Cottey forward Machela VanGennip goes up for a close-range jumper Tuesday night at Hinkhouse Center.

Over the next 70 seconds, the visitors scored five unanswered points before Cottey's Linsey Denney sank two free throws, making the score 8-4 North Central.

Cottey's offense ran into a roadblock and watched as North Central amassed 11 more points by the 13:20 mark, while only Cottey's Latasha Griggs and Machela VanGennip could each score a field goal in the same amount of time. Finally, with 13 minutes to play in the first half, Cottey regrouped and took control. Staring at a nine point deficit, the hosts began sinking shots on their end and getting rebounds on the other.

Rose hit two field goals back-to-back followed by another from Emily Allen. At 10:24, Griggs made the second of two free throws, and 32 seconds later Comets point guard Ciera Wong made the first of two more and suddenly Cottey trailed by only three, at 19-16.

With 8:42 showing on the first half clock, North Central's Brooke Parton added two but it was all Cottey for the next three minutes. Allen hit a field goal, and Rose a charity toss to come within one, 21-20. VanGennip's field goal gave Cottey its first lead with 6:10 remaining in the first half, at 22-21.

At 5:36, North Central regained the lead with a pair of foul shots, but a trey from VanGennip and following free throw put the hosts back on top, 26-23.

A few seconds later, North Central's Imani White made her first, but certainly not last field goal of the night, bringing her team within one at 26-25. With 3:32 showing, Denney hit the first of two foul shots. A few seconds later, her teammate Jones did the same and with 17 ticks gone, Rose connected on a jumper to give the hosts a five point edge and a little breathing room, at 30-25. Cottey maintained the lead for the rest of the half, scoring six more points with a deuce from Rose, a free throw from Griggs, and a trey to end the period from Jones, handing them a 36-30 half-time lead.

Greg Kepler/Special to the Daily Mail/ Cottey center Emily Allen looks to score a bucket Tuesday night.

The Lady Pirates came out with a new strategy and chipped away at the Cottey lead until they tied the contest at 40-40 with 17:38 remaining in regulation.

Only Cottey's Allen and Rose could score field goals in the first two-and-a-half minutes. Finally Denney and Harris got the touch back and added two apiece making it 44-40 at 16:45. Denney added another deuce at 16:20 and watched as Griggs hit both free throws and followed those with a trey at 14:42, giving Cottey a 51-44 cushion.

Then things went the other way; at 14:04, White and crew went to work scoring six points from the charity stripe before Jones could retaliate with two foul shots to counter. Six unanswered points later, North Central held a 56-53 advantage at 11:10, before fouling Denney and watching her hit both foul shots.

White made two more field goals for the visitors before Denney added two or her own, bringing Cottey to within three. A pair from North Central and free throw from Jones, and field goal from Denney brought the score to 62-60 North Central. A deuce from Allen started a scoring blitz for Cottey that saw them score nine points before the visitors could counter. Wong hit the second of two, followed by a trey from Jones, a deuce from Rose, and another trey from Jones making the score 71-64 before the Lady Pirates added two field goals, the second with 4:37 showing, slicing the Cottey lead to 71-68.

At four minutes, the nail biting began. VanGennip made the first of two foul shots. A minute later, Parton sank both tosses and brought the Pirates within two, at 72-70.

One minute later, Denney made the second of two free throws, extending Cottey's lead to three, 73-70. With 2:15 showing, Wong hit pay dirt with two, extending the lead to five for the hosts. A deuce from North Central brought the score to within three at 1:55. Then, VanGennip could muster only one of two from the stripe, extending Cottey's lead to four. With 54 seconds showing, North Central's White scored two, then got fouled and hit both ends from the line, knotting the score at 76-76 with 23 ticks remaining. Despite their best efforts, the Comets fouled Berwanger with four ticks left and she hit the second of two free throws to give the Lady Pirates a one point, 77-76 victory.

White led all scorers with 22, followed by 18 from teammate Madison Winters. Jones led scoring for Cottey with 15 including three treys. Rose and Denney added 14 each including 6 of 6 from the stripe for Rose. Cottey's 70 percent free throw shooting was lower than normal and may have made the difference. North Central hit 26 of 28.