Echo Cenci draws the defense in the low post.

NASELLE — Pe Ell stormed back from a 32-11 deficit to beat Naselle 49-45 Wednesday, May 5. Annika Mason scored 16 of her 17 points in the second half to lead the comeback.

Seemingly harmless early fouls came back to haunt the Comets. The team had only seven players on their roster, and by the end three were playing with four fouls — one away from fouling out.

“In the fourth quarter we lost it; our help defense wasn’t there,” said Bella Colombo, who had three fouls herself. “We had a lot of players with foul trouble… and they knew they couldn’t foul out.”

As a result, when Pe Ell guards attacked late in the game they regularly found paths to the basket.

Part of what left the Comets so thin was the absence of junior Peyton Dalton, who usually sparks the team on both ends of the court. She had surgery after playing through a sports hernia during volleyball season, but expects to be cleared to return Monday.

“We really miss Peyton; she really would have helped today,” Colombo said. “She plays with a lot of energy, and she’s a leader of our team…. When we get her back, we’ll be a much more complete team.”

In her absence, Lauren Katyryniuk (14 points) and Colombo (11) did much of the playmaking, setting each other up for baskets to keep the Lady Comets’ offense afloat. Katyryniuk scored 11 first-half points to help Naselle build a 27-8 lead. Shortly after halftime, she nailed her third three-pointer of the game that gave the Comets their largest lead at 32-11.

The Lady Trojans, coming off an 8-10 season in the 2B Pacific League, had blown out Three Rivers Christian in this season’s opener but had no offensive rhythm in the first half Wednesday.

In the second half, their perimeter players went on the attack and regularly found paths to the basket. Carolann Baldwin led the initial charge, with seven points in a span of a few minutes in the third quarter to get the lead down to twelve.

Mason got behind the defense, caught a long outlet and converted a three-point play to cut it to single-digits at 34-25 heading into the fourth. Just a minute and a half into the fourth, Mason cut it to two, banking in a three.

“[Mason] took charge more, and they tried to feed her the ball,” Katyrniuk said.

Colombo hit her third three on a pass from Katyryniuk to stretch it back to five. Charlie Carper, the Trojans’ top scorer last year, gave the team their first lead with a fast-break layup that made it 39-38 with 4:29 left.

Kaylin Shrives knocked down a baseline jumper to give the Comets back the lead at 43-41 inside three minutes to play. Katyryniuk found Echo Cenci open under the basket to stretch it to 45-42 with 2:19 remaining.

But the Comets did not score the rest of the way despite several good chances.

Pe Ell closed out the game with a 7-0 run. Mason got to the basket with a hesitation move on the baseline and the layup with 1:50 left to start the streak. Carper hit another fast-break layup to give Pe Ell the lead. Baldwin got free on the baseline and scored with 15.6 seconds left for the 49-45 lead, more or less clinching the game. The Trojans had put up a 24-point fourth quarter, including 10 points from Mason.

While athletes got a break from masks during Season Two, which featured low-contact outdoor sports season, they are back to masks for basketball.

“It’s definitely harder to breathe, and I wish I could see my teammates smiles after they make a basket,” Katyryniuk said. “We were really just ready for the season to start after not getting to play in the winter.”