STATE CENTER — West Marshall girls’ basketball head coach Fred Zeller wasn’t fussed about his team’s Tuesday night home win over BCLUW.

Zeller said the Class 3A No. 12 Trojans played some of their worst defense of the season and weren’t at their best in a 48-37 victory over the Comets, which moved West Marshall to 12-1 on the season.

“It was definitely our worst defensive effort from pretty much start to finish,” Zeller said. “We didn’t deny much and the ball got inside too often. Then we didn’t adjust until we started doubling up inside, and that helped a little bit.

“We just played really flat defensively.”

The Trojans found things difficult in the paint defensively against Chloe Walters, who scored a game-high 19 points for the Comets (5-6) and kept them within touching distance for most of the first three quarters.

She scored 10 points in the first half and the Comets trailed 22-16, despite putting Katy Reyerson in foul trouble and forcing the Trojans’ leader to finish the first half on the bench.

BCLUW coach Dave Lee was impressed with Walters’ showing on offense.

“I thought we really did some good stuff tonight,” Lee said. “I was really proud of Chloe. She did a yeoman job against their bigs and I thought she did a nice job of finding space, waiting for them to get on her and then taking a gap and heading for the basket. I thought she really played smart tonight.”

With Reyerson sitting for stretches during the game in order to prevent picking up another foul, the offense for West Marshall at times ran through freshman guard Bella Borgos.

Borgos scored 16 points and consistently found herself in the paint with the ball, whether it was via off-ball movement and an assist from her teammates or a dribble-drive of her own.

Zeller said her confidence has been consistent as she’s learned to play through some freshman mistakes.

“She’s learning,” Zeller said. “She’s making some freshman mistakes but she plays with confidence all the time, she doesn’t let things get to her. We have pretty good second and third weapons.

“We’re getting better, we will get better.”

Still, BCLUW was right in the battle — cutting the deficit to three points at 26-23 early in the third quarter. Where the Comets lost the game, Lee said, was in the stretch immediately after cutting it to three.

West Marshall scored back-to-back baskets on runout fast breaks and suddenly the gap was back up to seven. From there, it was nine at the end of the third quarter and got as high as 18 points midway through the fourth quarter — the Trojans were out of reach.

Outside shooting was a big reason for the gap widening — the Comets created a few looks but only hit two shots from 3-point range, one from Leah Pieper and one in the final five minutes from Allison Engle. After hitting the shot, Engle (who scored 11 points) looked up at the ceiling as if to say, “finally”. It was that kind of night for the Comets — making good decisions, but not getting the intended results.

West Marshall’s next game is a Friday night road game against Saydel. BCLUW hosts South Hardin at 6:15 p.m. on Friday.

West Marshall 48, BCLUW 37

BCLUW (5-6) — Sydney Anderson 0 0-0 0, Leah Pieper 1 0-0 3, Allison Engle 5 0-3 11, Katie Hill 2 0-0 4, Chloe Walters 9 1-4 19, Callie Swanson 0 0-0 0, Moyra Severa 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 19 1-7 37.

WEST MARSHALL (12-1) — Keatan Pfantz 1 0-0 3, Bella Borgos 7 1-1 16, Lauren Solberg 1 2-2 4, Lily Zahnd 3 0-2 6, Katy Reyerson 7 3-5 18, Lilly Buck 0 1-2 1, Adisyn Young 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 19 7-12 48.

BCLUW 6 10 9 12 — 37

W. MARSHALL 16 6 12 14 — 48

3-Point Goals–BCLUW 2 (Pieper, Engle), WM 3 (Pfantz, Borgos, Reyerson). Team Fouls–BCLUW 13, WM 9. Fouled Out–none.