By Kevin Cunningham
Correspondent
Last week, the Delavan-Darien girls basketball team had a couple games that could display where they were at, now over the mid-way point of the season. On Jan. 18, the 6-6 Comets faced Palmyra-Eagle, which entered at 2-12.
The Comets were at home, and it didn’t take long for the crowd to get into it. Opening up the game, the team got out to an 8-1 lead within the first five minutes. Then, the Panthers made a surge back, and eventually led the Comets 15-12 with 5:40 left in the first half.
Jaida Speth knocked down a three-pointer to tie the game at 15 and start a run that would push the Comets to victory. An 11-0 run ensued over the next three minutes, and the Comets led 23-15 at the 2:06 mark.
The final two minutes closed with a three-pointer by freshman point guard Kat Lopez that came from beyond NBA-range, as she was in between the three-point line and half court. The three-pointer gave the Comets a 28-19 advantage entering halftime.
“We’re changing our defense a little bit,” Comets head coach Jose Lopez said. “We were working on some different things tonight, so it wasn’t as tight as it was against Lake Geneva. We played really good defense in the half-court against Lake Geneva.
“We’re just taking them where we want to take them. This is just a straight ball containment press.”
The Comets’ defense extended full-court in the game, and in the second half, the team would allow the Panthers to only score 16 more points. Delavan-Darien eventually won, 49-35, and Jose Lopez said Monday games are tough, but the team needs to play even better.
On the glass, Jennah Speth showed her superiority, grabbing 17 rebounds to go along with her 12 points. She also recorded three assists, a steal and a blocked shot in the victory.
“It was good because she hadn’t been rebounding well over the last couple games and we talked about it,” Jose Lopez said. “And I told her, ‘You can rebound, you’re a physical presence in there.’ And she did. She rebounded very well today.”
A few games ago, Speth hurt her wrist, but the first-year head coach says she is past the injury. Claudia Nieuwenhuis scored 10 points and had five rebounds with a couple steals in the game as well.
Kat Lopez, with her NBA-ranged three-pointer, recorded a 12-point, five-rebound, four-assist, three-steal game. Jose Lopez talked about how his offensive system is entirely new to the girls, and they still have a long way to go, despite having 13 games under their belts with it.
In eight games, the team has scored at least 50 points with its new offense, more than the 49 it scored against Palmyra-Eagle.
“We’re 4-1 in our last five games and we have Burlington on Friday,” Jose Lopez said after the game. “Our goal is to keep winning. Keep building on what we have. I think we’re in a good place. Even though we didn’t play good tonight, I think we’ll come back strong Friday against Burlington.”
In the game against Burlington Friday, both teams stayed pretty even throughout the first half. In the second half, though, Lopez’s group ended up losing the game.
Entering halftime, Burlington led, 24-23. Then in the second half, the Demons out-scored the Comets, 33-8, en route to the 57-31 victory. No Comet scored more than nine points in the loss.
For Burlington, only one player got in double digits, but Jessa Burling did so in a big way, scoring 23 points. With Burling’s 23 points, came 10 steals.
The Comets made 13 shots throughout the game, compared to the Demons’ 25. The Comets were scheduled to play Westosha Central (2-13) Tuesday at Westosha. In its last game, against Union Grove, the team lost, 61-20.
