Girls basketball roundup: Comets surge in second half

Published by admin on Sat, 02/01/2020 - 7:57am

The Comets' Payton Pekarek looks to pass the basketball against the defense pressure of Gladbrook-Reinbeck's Belen Ellenberger during conference cage play Friday. (Scott Bierle/Mid-America Publishing)

By:

Scott Bierle and Jake Ryder

Mid-America Publishing

BCLUW 46, G-R 31: The Comets locked down Friday's victory in the second half at BCLUW High School in Conrad.

Payton Pekarek scored 15 points, Chloe Walters 11 and Allison Engle 10 for the Comets, moving to 5-5 in the NICL West. G-R fell to 4-7 in league play.

Engle added a team-leading eight rebounds as well as four assists and four steals.

The Comets' lead was just 25-22 at halftime, but BCLUW won the next two quarters, including a 9-1 advantage in the fourth quarter, to come out on top.

“We just stayed with it,” stated BCLUW coach David Lee. “Offensively, we made some shots and once we ran the offense with some backdoors things started working. I think we wanted to score to quick and we tried to get the ball to Chloe (Walters) and Allison (Engle) too much. Defensively, I felt we were solid all night. We talked to the kids about the defense being better and the kids responded well.”

Saari Kuehl led G-R with 11 points, seven rebounds and five steals.

The Rebels had 23 turnovers and shot just 29.3 percent from the field. BCLUW shot 45.2 percent, including 5-of-16 from 3-point range.

D-NH 66, JESUP 40: Dike-New Hartford girls basketball rolled past Jesup, 66-40, in a meeting of ranked NICL East teams at Jesup High School on Friday, Jan. 31.

The Wolverines, ranked first in Class 3A, rose to 13-0 in the NICL East and secured at least a share of the league title, three games ahead of second-place Hudson with three to play. Jesup, 14th ranked in 3A, dropped to 9-4 in divisional action.

Morgan Weber racked up 23 points with 13 rebounds to lead the Wolverines in both categories. Katie Knock contributed 16 points and Ellie Foster had 10 points.

D-NH led 18-5 after the first quarter and went up 37-15 at halftime.

AGWSR 40, EAST MARSHALL 30: The Cougars are 6-3 in the NICL West after this win against the Mustangs in Le Grand on Friday.

Alyssa Hames scored 16 points with eight rebounds and Rachel Sicard contributed 10 points and 12 rebounds. MaKenna Kuper added a team-leading five assists and six steals.