After a back-and-forth affair, the Warriors came up just short, falling at home to the Cottey Comets 71-65.
Early in the contest Cottey jumped out to a 4-2 lead. Despite a slow start offensively and early turnover troubles Calvary played good transition defense and was able to grab the lead at the end of the first quarter 9-8. After the game Head Coach Tressa Shoemaker said, ”Early on it looked like we were playing through some sludge, coming off the quick turnaround, but we need to be able to create opportunities, no matter the time frame.”
In the second quarter, the Comets began to find their offensive rhythm and started to covert their easy shot opportunities into points, starting the quarter on a 16-5 run. However, in the last three minutes of the first half the Warriors found their offense as well, culminating with an Avery Kornstad three with three seconds left in the half. Calvary headed into the break down by only five, 29-24.
Both teams came out shooting well in the third quarter but neither team was able to pull away. A long range three from Taylor Hunter at the end of quarter three sent the game to the fourth quarter tied at 43.
After the quarter break the Warriors came out hot, firing their way to an eight point lead with just under five minutes to play. But the Comets didn’t go away and clawed back to within three with 3:17 left in the game. Over the final minutes Cottey went on a 14-5 run to close out the game, connecting on 5 of 6 of their free throws in the final minute.
Foul trouble and poor rebounding plagued Calvary throughout and made it tough for the Warriors to hang on. The Warriors were out-rebounded 57-33 overall and gave up 17 offensive boards to the Comets. Coach Shoemaker said that it was a combination of Cottey’s height and poor positioning that lead to the discrepancy, “On average we are a shorter team so we have to [get in good] position, and that’s something that we’ll work on in practice.”
Hunter again led the way posting 18 points after her 40 point performance on Thursday. Anna Holloway and Kornstad rounded out the Warriors in double figures, with 17 and 14 respectively. Anna Davis led the team in rebounds with eight. Shalom Sutcliffe added five assists.
Taylor Coonce led Cottey with a 17 point, 12 rebound double-double.
With the loss Calvary falls to 3-4 on the season, and will look to right the ship after another quick turnaround, at Kansas Christian on Monday.
