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Turnovers doom Comets in loss to St. Louis
A stifling defensive effort paved the way to victory for the St. Louis Community College Lady Archers in its 72-60 Monday afternoon defeat of the Cottey Comets at Hinkhouse Center.
The Region 16 loss drops Cottey to 3-9 overall (1-1 Region 16-play), while the Lady Archers improve to 9-7 (2-2 Region 16).
"St. Louis is the reigning Region 16 champions, and they're always kind of battling it out for that championship position," Cottey head coach Stephanie Beason said.
"So we knew coming in that St. Louis was going to have talent and athleticism."
Both teams were slow out of the gate, as a Dezha Parker offensive rebound and lay-in put the Comets on top 4-2 midway through the first quarter.
After being held to just one field goal through the first five minutes of play, back-to-back Erica Waeltermann treys handed the Lady Archers an 8-4 advantage.
Comets sophomore guard Kelsey Acton responded with a 4-0 run of her own, courtesy of a pull-up jumper, followed by a baseline jumper, knotting the score 8-8. The opening frame concluded with St. Louis holding an 11-8 lead.
The game remained low-scoring early on, as the Lady Archers size and physicality grinded Cottey's offensive game-plan to a halt.
St. Louis guard Shamiah Oliver connected from long-range midway though the second quarter, putting the Lady Archers in front 16-13. Cottey followed with a 5-2 spurt, capped by a Kim Robles three from the top of the key, tying the contest 18-18.
Back on the offensive end, Waeltermann knocked down her third triple of the afternoon, as St. Louis led 21-18, before eventually settling for a 23-20 halftime advantage.
The Comets were fortunate to be down by just three at the half, after shooting 6 percent from long-range (1-of-17) and 21 percent from the field. (8-of-37). Meanwhile, both teams committed 13 turnovers apiece.
Second half
The third quarter opened with Cottey turning the ball over early and often. The Comets, however, were able to keep the contest tight, as Robles' entry pass to center Cheyenne Ortiz for the lay-in trimmed the St. Louis lead to 28-25 with 7:03 to play in the third.
A 7-2 blitz, capped by an Oliver 3-pointer, gave the Lady Archers a 35-27 cushion. With 4:18 on the third quarter clock, a Kelsey Acton trey from the right corner, assisted by Kasey Acton, cut the Comets deficit to six at 37-31.
From there, St. Louis began to pull away, as four consecutive Shamara Glover free throws late in the third, put the Lady Archers up 47-34.
Through three quarters of play, the Comets trailed 51-35.
Early in the fourth quarter, Kasey Acton scored off a well-designed inbound pass from under the basket, followed by an Ortiz bucket in the paint, as the Comets trailed by a dozen.
Cottey was then able to cut further into the lead after Robles drove the left-side and dished to freshman forward Kate Story for a lay-in off the right block.
After chipping away at the St. Louis lead, Cottey was able to get the deficit back into single-digits as the Comets trailed 52-43 with 8:01 remaining in regulation.
Waeltermann, however, extended the Lady Archers lead back out to 12 courtesy of her fourth 3-pointer of the contest. At the 6:24 mark, St. Louis increased its advantage to 60-45, via Oliver's trey from the left wing, as the Lady Archers coasted to victory.
"We have to figure out how to get that heart and get that desire, and the same edge and attitude that we had in the first half ---- through all 40 minutes of the game," Beason said, adding that St. Louis pulled down 22 offensive rebounds, resulting in 19 second-chance points.
In addition, Cottey committed 30 turnovers that led to 25 Lady Archer points.
"That's your ballgame right there," Beason said of the turnovers. "Turnovers have kind of been our downfall. We're going to come up with more practice drills where we're handling pressure."
St. Louis also held a significant free throw advantage, knocking down 26-of-38 attempts from the charity stripe, while Cottey connected on just 52 percent of its free throw attempts (11of-21). Additionally, Cottey shot 18 percent from beyond the arc (5-of-29), while St. Louis was slightly better at 29 percent (8-of-27).
Lady Archers guard Ellisha Davis tallied a game-high 20 points, but needed 16 field goal attempts to reach that point total, as the Comets held Davis to 31 percent shooting from the field.
Davis, however, was in attack-mode most of the afternoon, driving hard to the basket while also getting out in transition ---- with half of her point total a direct result of Cottey turnovers.
Waeltermann finished with 15 (4-of-6 3Pt), while Oliver pitched in with 14 points, two assists and two steals.
For the Comets, Kelsey Acton recorded a double-double, dropping in a team-high 17 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the field, to go along with 11 rebounds, three assists and a steal. Kasey Acton chipped in nine points, two rebounds and a pair of steals; Story, eight points on 4-of-5 shooting; Ortiz, six points, three rebounds and a block; Malory Moles, six points and eight rebounds; Parker six points; Alex Alvarez, three points; Robles, three points; and Destiny Teniente, two points.
Up next
The Comets return to Hinkhouse Center for a Thursday evening matchup with Penn Valley Community College. Tip off is slated for 6 p.m.