Naselle 29 — Mary M. Knight 70

By NICK NIKKILA

Observer correspondent

ELMA — The Comets trip to Elma Friday was a sad one, as the Owls dominated the Naselle girls, winning 70-29, despite only having six players dressed for the game.

Four of the Owls (9-0) six players scored in double digits, led by Kaylee Sowle with 26. Knight has been a juggernaut so far this season, outscoring their opponents 572-240 — the fewest points allowed for any team with at least nine games played and the fourth-most points scored in the state at 1B.

The precision and speed of the Owls passing was unlike anything the Comets (3-7) have faced thus far. With good command of the floor, they were quick to see the open shooter on the inside and were able to sink outside shots when available, including nine three-pointers.

“They were definitely stronger than us, I thought,” said Ellie Chapman, who was double teamed most of the evening. “They were quick with their passes and excellent shooters. I think we learned a little bit of everything. We’ve got to be fast, we’ve got to work on shooting — we have to work on everything. Just keep getting better.”

Chapman and Haley Footh led the Comets with 10 points each. No one else had more than two for Naselle.

“Getting back on defense was horrible,” said Kendra Leeland. “If you look at us, we’re a really athletic group. We’re really fast. We just let it get away from us.”

Naselle were held to single digits in each quarter, down 41-16 at halftime. The loss was the Comets second straight.

“We played good in spurts. We’d have our moment and we’d kind of fall back and maybe be lazy and not getting where we were supposed to be. I think that was our biggest issue,” said Taylor Eaton. “I think we came away from this game with our egos probably bashed a little bit, but you come away with the humility that losing does give you. I think we’ll take it, learn from it and get better before our next game.”

Comets: Ellie Chapman 10, Haley Footh 10, Taylor Eaton 2, Kendra Leeland 2, Abbie Eaton 2, Amelia Tutu’u 2, Kryrn Jacot 1

Owls: Kaylee Sowle 26, Miranda Sowle 14, Jaycee Valley 13, Lauren Dierkop 12, Emily Ackley 3, Mary Koonrad 2

Comets: 8 8 7 6 — 29

Owls: 17 24 17 12 — 70

UP NEXT

The Naselle girls have a good opportunity to get back on track this week when they play an out of division game at Ocosta (1-6) on Weds., and then host Oakville (2-8) on Friday.

Naselle 28 — Neah-Kah-Nie 41

ROCKAWAY BEACH, Or. — The Neah-Kah-Nie Pirates doubled up on the Comets for three quarters — 34-16 — on their way to a 41-28 win Jan. 6.

The Comets got off to a slow start, committing a number of turnovers due to erratic passing and ended up playing catch-up ball after the first few minutes of the game.

“I guess we were kind of tired and not wide awake for the game,” said Amelia Tutu’u. “And then, once we noticed them coming at us, we started to wake up. During the first half, we were kind of passing to nobody. People would just come and take the ball from us.”

“We came out not really ready to play,” admitted Ellie Chapman. “And at half we said, ‘okay, we need to step it up.’”

To the Comets credit, they did step it up in the second half, outscoring Neah-Kah-Nie 18-17 in the final two quarters.

“I feel like we did a lot better the second half,” said Chapman. “We got back on defense quicker. I thought we were moving our feet better and not just waving our arms.”

“We come out really strong in the second half in all of our games, and we need to have that mentality from the beginning,” said Kendra Leeland. “If we had that mentality, I think we would play our games a lot faster and all around better.”

Comets: Ellie Chapman 14, Tayler Ford 6, Kryrn Jacot 4, Kendra Leeland 2, Haley Footh 2

Pirates: Alaina Holm 11, Annie Romig 8, Brittany Scull 8, Annie Kelly 8, Jamie Sherman 4, Maddie Lambert 2

Comets: 6 4 6 12 — 28

Pirates: 12 12 10 7 — 41