ST. ALBANS – The BFA-St. Albans Comets bounced back from a pair of losses with a 36-22 win over Rice after a pair of losses on Monday, Jan. 19.
The Comets got on the board first when Joslyn Bessette drove the lane and converted a layup for the 2-0 lead. Emma Harrison would hit from beyond the arc and added another hoop as the Comets’ lead grew to 7-0 before Rice would finally score with just 28 seconds remaining in the quarter. Harrison came right back, however, and made her second three-pointer of the quarter for the 10-2 lead at the end of the first.
The Comets struck first in the second quarter as well, as Kaitlyn Schoembs took an inbound pass and put it in the net for the 12-2 lead. After the second basket of the game for Rice, Harrison struck from outside once again. A pair of Comets’ free throws built the lead to 17-4 before Rice made a three-pointer of their own to cut the lead to 17-7. Lexie Litchfield closed out the scoring in the half for the Comets with a nice put-back basket, and the Comets took a 19-7 lead to the locker room.
Greg Bessette
The Comets and Green Knights traded baskets in the opening minutes of the third quarter, but the Comets maintained a 26-14 lead before Litchfield sank a three-point shot with time winding down. The 29-14 lead was secured in the final second of the quarter as Ella Dunigan blocked a Rice shot to close out the frame.
The Comets continued to move the ball around in the fourth quarter, protecting the lead with a strong zone defense. Hoops by Karina Farinaccio, Mayve Dyke, and Riley Tatro highlighted the Comets’ scoring in the quarter, and the Green Knights were unable to mount a comeback, falling 36-22.
Emma Harrison led the Comets in scoring with 15 points. Joslyn Bessette and Lexie Litchfield each scored 5 points. Kaitlyn Schoembs added 4 points for the Comets. The Green Knights were led by Bayleigh Clark with 10 points. Reese Billings added 6 points for Rice.
Comet’s senior guard, Joslyn Bessette, said, “We definitely have been needing a boost in confidence, I think. We’ve had a rough past two games, so we wanted to come in today with confidence and to play together as a team, and I think it worked out for us.”
Greg Bessette
Bessette added, “We had a team bonding practice yesterday, and this morning we had a little bit of a shootaround, and we worked on putting our shot up, and how to break their press and press breaks. We worked on all that stuff, as well as how to take on their team, because we watched some film.”
On the strong team defense, Bessette said, “We talked about it earlier in the locker room that the Comets program is kind of known for our zone defense right now, so we’ve been working really hard on once it gets to the corners trapping as quickly as we can. If it’s outside, we’re walling up, so we’ve been working really hard in practice, and it’s showing. It’s finally coming out, which is amazing.”
Comets’ coach Shane Garceau talked about the keys to the win: “Just kind of getting back to the basics, and re-focusing, as well as the value of the basketball. We had a rough week with some kids out sick, and we were just kind of out of it, but they bounced back pretty well tonight. Like I said, just trying to get back to the basics.”
He highlighted the team defense as well, saying, “To play that defense, the girls have got to work extremely hard. It’s pretty taxing, and they’ve done a lot of sprinting to the spots they need to sprint to and be reactive. That’s something that we’ve dug our heels in on, and tried to make the nucleus of our team.”
Greg Bessette
Heading into their upcoming game at home against Mount Mansfield, Garceau said, “They’re a very good team, so we’re going to try to ride that energy that we had today. We’ll try to move forward with that and bring what we can for Thursday.”
The win moves the Comets to 3-5 on the season. The Green Knights dropped to 1-10-1.