Newman pulls away to top Eastland at home

STERLING – In a game of runs Tuesday night, Newman fired the opening salvo, then had to respond to Eastland’s counterpunch.

The Comets built a double-digit lead, then the Cougars whittled it down to five points before Newman pulled away for a 56-30 victory in Sterling.

The Comets (14-5) closed the game with a 26-5 run over the final 14 minutes, responding after Eastland (5-12) had cut its deficit to two possessions less than two minutes into the second half.

[ Photos of Eastland at Newman girls basketball ]

“We were communicating on the court, that’s key, and our defense was on point today, our shots were on point,” Newman’s Gisselle Martin said. “When we communicate, the defense flows perfectly for us, and we locked down and didn’t let them get any good shots up [in the fourth quarter]. We all knew that they were not going to stop fighting, so we had to always fight to the end.”

Martin led the Comets with 25 points, seven rebounds and seven steals, and Lucy Oetting added 15 points, three assists and two steals. Starters Helen Papoccia (4 points, 2 assists), Brooklyn Smith (3 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals) and Elaina Allen (2 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals) also contributed strong minutes, as did Paizlee Williams and Veronica Haley (3 points, 4 rebounds) off the bench.

“It’s honestly what makes us such a great team, when we all contribute,” Oetting said. “Say one of my teammates has a bunch of rebounds and another teammate scores a bunch of points – that really brings us together as a team when everybody is working together and doing their job.”

Oetting hit a pair of 3s to ignite the final surge, and Martin and Papoccia both hit layups off inbounds passes to keep the momentum going. Oetting scored on a pick-and-roll pass from Smith, then Smith nailed a 3 the next trip down the floor to stretch the lead to 52-30 with 3:27 to play.

“Just our hustle, that was the key,” Oetting said. “I felt like we hustled a lot more and our energy was up in the fourth quarter.”

After Newman used a 12-2 run to end the first quarter and start the second to build a 24-8 lead, the Cougars answered. Olivia Klinefelter scored inside and Sienna Peterson buried a 3 to start an 11-2 run over the final 3:50 of the first half, with Izzy Ames and Klinfelter adding more buckets in the paint.

Peterson then hit another 3 and Morgan McCullough split a pair of free throws to get within 30-25 just 1:44 into the third quarter.

“I think when we started turning up our defense, it worked for us,” said Klinefelter, who led Eastland with 12 points, five rebounds, two steals and three blocked shots. “Then we were seeing what was open on offense and trying to pass the ball around, working more as a team than we did in the first quarter.

“It’s good to know when one person isn’t hitting, then we can see if anybody else is on. Everyone was working together.”

But Newman ratcheted up its defense a notch at that point, and all Eastland managed was a 3 from McCullough and two free throws from Klinefelter the rest of the way. The Cougars got several decent looks, but couldn’t get any of them to go down as the Comets pulled away.

“I just don’t think it was our night. We played more as a team [as the game went on], passed the ball and got some good shots, but we couldn’t get them to fall,” Klinefelter said. “A game like this, I think it shows what we need to work on for the rest of the season and the postseason. We can see what we need to do better.”

Peterson (3 assists) and McCullough (2 assists) scored six points apiece for Eastland, and Tatum Grim added four points and six rebounds while battling foul trouble all night. Ames chipped in two points, six rebounds and two blocks, and Violet Diehl pulled down five rebounds.

“When we controlled the tempo, we were fine,” Eastland coach Nicole Brinker said. “We let them speed us up that first quarter; we played rushed the whole quarter, and we don’t play well when we play rushed. When we finally slowed it down, we were able to attack where we wanted to attack instead of letting them dictate what we did.

“It was a bonus that we could adjust to that. You see so many different styles, and they’re an intense defense, and that’s only going to make us better in the long run to learn how to adjust to those things.”