By Kevin Cunningham
Correspondent
Much like the Delavan-Darien boys basketball team, the girls squad had a big chance to start off the end of its regular season with three games on its schedule last week. The Comets entered with a 9-7 record, and after three games, now sit at 11-8 overall.
The first contest on its slate came Feb. 1 in a home game against Big Foot. Starting Comet point guard Kat Lopez was sick for the game, and it made a difference offensively and defensively.
Big Foot scored 80 points in the game, 47 of which came in the second half. The Comets put up 64 of its own throughout the game, partly thanks to Jennah Speth’s game-high 26.
The team didn’t help itself from the charity stripe, going eight of 17 from the line. Big Foot countered by shooting 14 of 19 from the free throw line and eight of 16 from behind the arc.
One day later, the Comets hosted East Troy, and its defense made the difference in the game. In the first half, the team allowed East Troy to only score seven points, building a 15-point lead.
Then in the second half, East Troy scored 39 in retaliation, but it wasn’t enough, leading to the 57-46 Comet victory. Katrina Santos of East Troy led all scorers with 19, while the only other two players in the game to score at least 10 points were the Comets’ Speth and Lopez with 13 and 11, respectively.
The Comets did a much better job at the free throw line in this one, converting and just getting there, connecting on 24 of its 35 attempts. In addition to her six points, Jaida Speth recorded two rebounds, had three assists and had as many steals as East Troy did as a team, with seven.
In the third and final game of the week, the Comets hosted Wilmot Union, who entered with a 16-2 record. The Comets were 10-8 going into the game, but with its home crowd behind them, the team rose to the occasion in the second half.
After the first half of play, the team trailed, 41-28. Then in the second, the Comets held Wilmot Union to 28 points. But, the 43 that Delavan-Darien countered with would be enough in the 71-69 win.
Only six Comets scored throughout the game, but it was Lopez’s layup with 37 seconds left that made the difference. The freshman point guard shot eight of 10 from the line, helping her score a game-high 22 points.
It was her second 20-plus-point performance of the season. The first also came against Wilmot earlier in the year. Lopez had seven rebounds to go along with her 22 points and was named the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Athlete of the Week.
Other stats from the game were Delavan-Darien’s 20 turnovers compared to its 10 assists, and the team made more free throws than Wilmot Union attempted, going 20 of 34 compared to Wilmot Union’s 13 of 17.
The Comets are now 11-8 overall and possess a 7-4 record in Southern Lakes Conference play. The 7-4 record is good for third place, and exactly like the boys team, the girls are in a tie with Burlington, which is also 7-4.
Wilmot Union is now 10-1 in the SLC, thanks to the Comets’ triumph, and still leads the conference ahead of Union Grove’s 9-2 record. The Comets’ next game was scheduled for Tuesday at Badger High School.
