Newman girls fall in Class 1A Forreston Regional final

FORRESTON – No strong first quarter lead is safe, and the Newman Comets found that out the hard way to end their season Thursday at the Class 1A Forreston Regional championship game.

The Comets, who were looking for its first regional title since 2009, scored the game’s first eight points against River Ridge/Scales Mound to get off to a big lead after the first eight minutes, but couldn’t hold on as the Wildcats chipped at the lead and pulled away to hand the Comets a 48-43 loss.

With back-to-back 3s from freshman Gisselle Martin and sophomore Elaina Allen, the Comets got out to a 6-0 lead and made it 8-0 after sophomore Brooklyn Smith came up with a half court steal and layup to force the Wildcats to call a timeout.

The Comets (24-10) ended the first quarter with a 20-5 lead as Martin and Allen each hit one more 3 in the quarter, but saw its lead evaporate from there when the Wildcats (27-6) came up with big 3s of their own going into and coming out of halftime.

“We were feeling it in the first and second quarters, and that was good for us,” Martin said. “We didn’t come out strong like we wanted to, and we all knew that team wasn’t going to stop and keep on fighting. I give them credit, they are a great program.”

The Wildcats, who won back-to-back regional titles for the first time in co-op history, started the game by missing each of their first eight shots, and trailed 29-13 with 3:17 left until half.

Then the 3-pointers started hitting. Sophomore Kenley Patterson knocked down three of them within a 90-second span, and classmate Campbell Hereau added one more to help propel their team to within 30-25 with 1:40 left in the half.

Newman led 32-25 at half’s end as Martin ended it with 19 points, but was held to just two the rest of the way.

“When we hit our shots, it got our defense going,” Patterson said. “We’re just a really good team that works really well together.”

With the game no longer a one-sided matter, Coe College recruit Laiken Haas sent the Wildcats ahead for good with long range shots of her own. The senior hit a trio of 3s in the first 4:03 of the third quarter; her third, from a pass from junior Kaci Patterson, put the Wildcats up for good at 37-35.

After committing just two turnovers in the first quarter, the Comets had a hard time getting past Wildcat hands in the next two quarters with 11 turnovers.

Haas finished with 15 points, five rebounds and five assists to send the Wildcats to Tuesday’s Newman Sectional semifinal.

“Our energy was a big part of it,” Haas said. “We knew that even though we were down, it’s a long game and it’s four quarters with three to go. Once we started hitting shots and getting deflections, we knew we could just keep pushing and we could outwork them with our game.”

The Comets trailed 39-36 at the end of three, but the Wildcats rushed out to a 9-0 run with inside shots to pull away.

Newman was one win away from an opportunity to play in its home gym again, but Comets coach Herb Martin was proud of how his young team – with nine of 11 on Thursday’s roster being underclassmen – handled the challenge. They graduate only senior Helen Papoccia from the roster.

ExpandAutoplay

Image 1 of 18

Newman’s Gisselle Martin pulls down a rebound against River Ridge Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025, during the Class 1A girls basketball regional at Forreston. (Alex T. Paschal)

Smith finished with nine points and nine rebounds, Allen had eight points, and junior Lucy Oetting had five points and seven rebounds.

“Basketball’s a game of runs,” Herb Martin said. “We’re a young team. We came out hot, but when they flexed their muscles and their senior and junior leadership on us, my young girls didn’t know how to handle that because they hadn’t been in these situations enough. At one point, one of my assistants told me they looked up and there were all freshmen and sophomores out there. I guess I got to kind of smile and look at it as the future being bright, but it still sucks to have that hot start that we had and still end up on the losing end of it.

“My girls did a great job out there, and I’m proud of them.”

Kenley Patterson also was in double figures for the Wildcats with 11 points and five rebounds and junior Sarah Winter led the inside effort with 14 points and seven rebounds.

The Wildcats will play Friday’s Hiawatha Regional winner between Pecatonica and Lena-Winslow at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Newman. They have a win over Lena-Winslow (61-32 on Dec. 10) and a loss to Pecatonica (41-31 on Jan. 8) this season.

“We got to keep our hearts in it, and our minds,” Haas said. “We’ll need to keep up our team effort and play all four quarters.”

Wildcats coach Dave Wiegel said his team’s comeback effort was the “most mental toughness we’ve ever shown,” he said.

“They did a good job in just keeping the course,” Wiegel said. “We got punched in the mouth. [Newman]’s a great team with a lot of young talent, and [Martin] was the best player on the floor in the first half and took it right to us. They’re the best shooting team that we’ve faced all year, and I’m really proud of our kids for hanging in there and chipping away.”

Like Newman, the Wildcats’ roster is fairly young with just four of 14 being upperclassmen. Both teams have more to look forward to next year, and the Comets want to keep their momentum going after a 14-win season last year.

“I’m very proud of this season, going from last year only getting 14 wins to now getting 24, it’s incredible,” Allen said. “I couldn’t thank my teammates and coaches enough for that. I can already tell this is going to be a great program.”

Newman’s 24 wins was the most since 2004-05 when the Comets placed fourth in the Class A state tournament. The season included an eight-game winning steak in December, which was snapped when the Comets lost 58-33 to the Wildcats on Dec. 19 at the Polo Tournament.

“I’m very, very proud of my girls for all they went through this year,” Herb Martin said. “Each and every one of them improved from where we were at in November to where we ended up now. I was on them hard and they worked hard for me, and I respect them for sticking it out.”