Naselle players battle for a loose ball against Washington School for the Deaf last week.

NASELLE — A youthful Naselle girls basketball team is collecting wins while they continue to grow.

After opening the season with disappointing losses to Onalaska and La Center, the Comets (3-2) responded with narrow league wins over Ocosta, 40-38 on Dec. 1, and Washington School for the Deaf, 26-22 on Dec. 5 before upsetting 2B Kalama 54-51 last Wednesday, Dec. 6.

The Comets have shown improvement each game in addition to racking up wins, to the delight of head coach Marie Green.

“What a wild ride tonight was,” Green said following the Comets’ close victory over Kalama.

After falling into a 10-point hole in the first period against the Chinooks, who compete in the bigger 2B division, the 1B Comets responded with a big second period, where they outscored Kalama 23-16 and trimmed the deficit to single digits before halftime (30-27).

Naselle continued their push in the third period, where they opened an eight-point lead (45-37) before using the foul line to seal the win.

“Our first quarter left much to be desired. Kalama came out and was physical and running the floor well. In the second period we changed up our defense and started to chip away. I’m so proud of how the girls continued to battle. This group is young, but they are learning to be versatile,” Green said.

Naselle was led offensively by Aubrey Katyryniuk, who scored a game-high 24 points while teammate Brianna Johnson added 18.

“Brianna had a huge night! She was shooting the ball with ease and has really started to to find her way as a point guard,” Green said.

“The whole team played great as a whole! I could not have been more proud. The fourth period for us was won from the stripe. We went 7 of 11 alone in the fourth period to maintain our lead.”

The Comets are currently in second place in the 1B Columbia Valley League standings, trailing only Willapa Valley (4-1, 2-0).

Up next: Naselle (3-1) will host a home game against Columbia Adventist Academy (3-2) on Thursday, Dec. 14. at 6 p.m.