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Comets adapt and conquer Clarksville

T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING - BCLUW junior Chloe Walters, center, shoots over Clarksville’s Sierra Vance (42) during the first half of Tuesday’s Class 1A Region 1 quarterfinal girls basketball game in Clarksville. Walters scored a game-high 21 points as the Comets defeated the host Indians, 54-40.

CLARKSVILLE — BCLUW girls’ basketball head coach David Lee said the Comets were caught flat-footed in the first half of Tuesday night’s game against Clarksville.

After playing all season long in a zone look, Clarksville moved to a man defense against the Comets — something that caught the team by surprise and disrupted their gameplan.

Going into the half down 22-20, Lee and the Comets made adjustments to their offense to counter the Clarksville (13-9) gameplan.

The result was a 27-3 third quarter and a clear path to the Class 1A Region 1 semifinals.

The Comets (14-9) came out 54-40 winners thanks to those adjustments.

T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING

“We came out and offensively changed some things,” Lee said. “I thought we caught them by surprise a little bit. I think four different people scored in that third quarter, and that really was a bonus for us.”

The tweaks on offense allowed forward Chloe Walters to get the ball in better positions — and she cashed in, scoring 14 second-half points and leading all scorers with 21 for the game. The junior’s ability to adjust and get deep position in the post was something Clarksville’s bigs couldn’t deal with as the quarter dragged on.

But when it wasn’t Walters scoring, the Comets seemed to keep finding the open player. Lizzie Garber hit a wide-open mid-range jumper, Alli Engle buried two threes and set up a number of other chances and Presley Engle hit her second three-pointer of the night. Alli Engle scored 13 points, had six rebounds and five assists. Walters led the team with nine boards and Betula Messerly grabbed eight.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Comets were tripping up Clarksville more often and making it tough to get a shot off. The three-quarter-court press caused multiple turnovers and disrupted Clarksville’s flow so much that the team didn’t score in the third quarter until the final 30 seconds. Messerly and Engle had four steals apiece while Garber had three.

The Comets went into the fourth holding a 47-25 advantage. Not needing to score a ton, BCLUW put it on cruise control and slowed down on offense. Clarksville didn’t make a run until the last three minutes of the game. But by then, it was far too late — the Comets were out of reach.

This win sets up a third matchup for the Comets with NICL West rivals AGWSR for Friday night.

Lee said it’s going to be a challenge.

“Our kids are looking forward to it,” Lee said. “They really present some problems for us with their bigs, we just can’t match them up so we have to do some other things.”

The game against AGWSR is scheduled to be held in Clarksville but the location is subject to change.

AGWSR 38, Gladbrook-Reinbeck 26

ACKLEY — Gladbrook-Reinbeck’s girls basketball season ended at the hands of NICL West rivals AGWSR Tuesday night, 38-26. The Rebels (9-11) got within five points in the fourth quarter, but AGWSR (14-7) hit 12 of 14 free throw attempts to ice the game away.

Alyssa Hames led all scorers with 13 points, with MaKenna Kuper scoring 10 points.

Saari Kuehl led G-R in her final game with nine points, while Mahayla Olson and Megan Cooley scored six apiece.

AGWSR plays BCLUW Friday night in a game scheduled to be in Clarksville. The location is subject to change.

BCLUW 54, Clarksville 40

BCLUW (14-9) — Lizzie Garber 3 1-2 7, Presley Engle 3 0-0 6, Allison Engle 5 1-1 13, Betula Messerly 2 0-0 5, Chloe Walters 7 7-10 21, Sydney Anderson 0 0-0 0, Anistyn Borsch-Rash 1 0-0 2, Katie Hill 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 20 9-13 54.

CLARKSVILLE (13-9) — Cailyn Hardy 1 2-2 5, Jenna Myers 2 0-0 5, Sierra Vance 3 0-1 7, Cheyenne Behrends 3 3-4 10, Katie Stirling 4 0-0 11, Rachel Borchardt 1 0-0 2, Makenzie Bloker 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 14 5-7 40.

BCLUW 12 8 27 7 — 54

CLARKSVILLE 12 10 3 15 — 40

3-Point Goals–BCLUW 5 (P. Engle 2, A. Engle 2, Messerly), Clarksville 7 (Stirling 3, Hardy, Myers, Vance, Behrends). Team Fouls–BCLUW 13, Clarksville 9. Fouled out–none.

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