CONRAD — AGWSR immediately pounced on a slow-starting BCLUW girls basketball team, eliminating the Comets, 67-33, in a Class 1A Region 2 quarterfinal matchup on Tuesday at BCLUW High School.

The Cougars (13-9) will travel to No. 2 Newell-Fonda on Friday for a Region 2 semifinal. BCLUW’s season ends at 14-9.

“We traditionally have started every game slow,” BCLUW head coach Joel Johnson said. “And you can look back through this season, we’ve come alive more in the third and fourth quarters, but just not tonight.”

AGWSR scored the first 16 points, including two of the nine 3-pointers the Cougars drained in the game.

“We had a good game plan and just didn’t put it in place,” Johnson said. “It’d be easy to turn around and say, ‘Let’s give up now,’ and the girls didn’t.”

The Comets showed some fight in the second quarter with an 8-3 run that included a couple quick turnovers generated off pressure defense, but AGWSR closed on another lengthy 13-0 run for a 34-10 halftime advantage.

BCLUW kept coming with a surge to start the third quarter, with Grace Farnsworth and Klayre Gallentine finding a couple buckets each as part of an 11-4 start to the third — but the Comets struggled to stop the Cougars and BCLUW ran out of haymakers to throw.

Gallentine finished with 11 points to lead the Comets and Grace Farnsworth had 10 points.

“We got a lot of tips on balls and once we got some of that momentum we could build on it,” Johnson said. “Those two stretches were some of the best basketball we’ve played all year against a quality opponent — we just needed an extended time of it.”

Trevyn Smith scored 21 points to lead AGWSR, Karis Lippert had 12 points, Josie Kuper 11 and Piper Smith 10; defensive assignments Johnson categorized as “pick your poison.”

“You give Kuper points inside and she’ll score 30 or you can try to get them to miss from the outside,” Johnson said. “They’re making a couple, banking them in, not much you can do about it.”

Johnson said he always has a hard time saying goodbye to the girls and the seniors and this year was no different with Miranda Jones, Sydney Anderson, Callie Swanson, Lindsay Beeghly and foreign exchange student Rebecca Balter suiting up for the last time for BCLUW.

“They’ve been with me these last two years and they’re a special group,” Johnson said. “They really care about the game and care about each other.”

BCLUW has already shown improvement in the second year with Joel Johnson at the helm — the Comets were 9-13 last season. They will have a solid returning core with Gallentine leading a group of juniors that all made significant contributions this season, as well as the sophomore Farnsworth.

“I told the girls that they have big shoes to fill — can they unite and be strong and do the work that it takes to be a good team,” Johnson said. “I tease Savannah and Grace all the time that they should be best friends on the court because there’s few teams in Class 1A that have the type of height and strength they have and we just got to get them playing together and healthy. … All of those returning girls understand the work that it’s going to take.”

AGWSR 67, BCLUW 33

AGWSR (13-9) — Karis Lippert 4 1-4 12, Catelynn Koop 2 0-0 5, Ava Olson 3 2-4 8, Trevyn Smith 7 5-6 21, Josie Kuper 5 1-6 11, Claire Meyer 0 0-0 0, Piper Smith 3 1-2 10, Ella Diemer 0 0-0 0, Elizabeth Kielty 0 0-0 0, Claire Culver 0 0-0 0, Carlie Hoodjer 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 24 10-22 67.

BCLUW (14-9) — Sydney Anderson 1 1-4 3, Klayre Gallentine 4 1-4 11, Callie Swanson 1 0-0 2, Lindsay Beeghly 1 0-0 2, Grace Farnsworth 5 0-1 10, Kalia Sover 0 0-0 0, Brinna Benson 0 0-0 0, Abby Kemp 0 0-0 0, Miranda Jones 0 0-0 0, Rebecca Balter 0 0-0 0, Savannah Moeller 1 1-2 3, Morgan Bergman 0 2-2 2. TOTALS 13 5-10 33.

AGWSR 18 16 15 18 — 67

BCLUW 2 8 18 5 — 33

3-Point Goals–AGWSR 9 (Lippert 3, P. Smith 3, T. Smith 2), BCLUW 2 (Gallentine 2). Team Fouls–AGWSR 18, BCLUW 20. Fouled Out–Moeller.