By: Amy Brubaker

Sports Writer

In the IHSA Class 2 A regional championship game, the #3 seeded Oakwood Lady Comets forced 22 turnovers, and easily dropped the #2 seeded Wateska Lady Warriors 55-39.

In high school girl's basketball, as with most other sports, the focus is usually lighting up the scoreboard. But you can be just as successful stressing defense. The Lady Comet's smothering defense propelled them to a regional title by making it hard for the Lady Warriors to put the ball in the basket in the second half.

Lady Comet's Head Coach Jeff Ford was very impressed with his team's second half performance. He stated, Early in the season, if we got down to a great team like Wateska, we probably would have lost the game. The girls have matured, and have been playing pretty solid in big game situations. We were only up four points at halftime, but in second half we hit our open shots, and forced turnovers, which helped win the game.

Kylie Neuman paced the Lady Comets with 16 points, while standout freshman, Katelyn Young pulled down 17 rebounds and scored13 points. Shaelyn Turner and Rylee Dowers each dropped in 12 points.

Earlier in the regional semifinals, the Oakwood Lady Comets squeaked by Bismarck-Henning 36-33. The Lady Comet's tenacious defense was the MVP of the regional tournament. The Comets forced 18 turnovers, and easily scored 16 points off these miscues. Young paced the Lady Comets with 13 points, Neuman added nine points. The Lady Comets improve to 26-5 overall, and will compete at the IHSA Class 2 A St. Thomas More sectionals this week.

Three Point Showdown Advancers were Young, and Salt Fork's Madison Kirby and Kayleigh Davis.

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Lady Comets win Regional Title 55-39 - The Independent News