By Jennifer Cesarz
Correspondent
Shooting woes plagued the Delavan-Darien High School girls’ basketball team Friday night when it hosted Elkhorn in its first Southern Lakes Conference game.
The Comets lost 48-43 to the Elks to move to 0-3 on the season, but the bright spot of the night was the Comet free-throw shooting, which is typically a problem for them.
“We played hard, however we could not overcome our missed layups in the first half,” head coach Hank Johnson said. “I was proud of the girls with their free-throw shooting since that had been a problem for us in the first two games.”
The team was 15 of 21 from the free-throw line led by Jennah Speth, who was nine of 12, and Megan Butke, who was four of five.
The Elks had a four-point advantage at the end of the first quarter, holding on to a 14-10 lead.
Despite their shooting struggles, the Comets cut into the Elks’ advantage by outscoring them 9-7 in the second quarter, making it 21-19 at halftime in favor of the Elks.
The Elks put together a run in the third quarter, widening the gap to five points at the end of the quarter at 35-30.
In the fourth quarter, the Comets looked the best offensively they had all night, but it wasn’t enough, and the Elks went on for the 48-43 win.
“Elkhorn did a great job of coming out of half going on a run when we had some turnovers,” Johnson said. “We fought back and had it within two points in the fourth quarter.”
Speth paced the Comets with 15 points, and Butke added eight.
Claudia Nieuwenhuis had six points for the Comets, and Kylie Collins and Kenna Timmerman had five points each.
Tonight the Comets travel to Badger High School for a 7 p.m. game and Tuesday will host Wilmot at 7 p.m.
