by AMHERST, OH – It was a thrilling opening night win that saw the Amherst Comets overcome a 11-point deficit to defeat the visiting Bay Rockets 48-47 in a thriller. The win came in part due to 10 fourth quarter points by Amalee Caldera who finished the night with 18.
The Comets were also paced with 9 from Morgan Lymer while Grace Bender, Callie Beckler and Sarai Hussein-Bey had 5 each. The Comet scoring was rounded out with 4 from Alaina Alflen and 3 from Abby Broaddus.
The Rockets were led in scoring by the dynamic senior Norah Trefz with 15 while Anna Weingart had 8. Madelyn Lee scored 7 while Chloe Kazma had 6. Caroline Chilton and Anna Spellman each had 5 as Ainsley Lesh finished the Rocket scoring with 2.
The Comets started the scoring from the opening tip when it landed with Abby Broaddus who took it to the hoop to hand Amherst a quick 2-0 lead. A few minutes later Morgan Lymer hit a shot from the right corner from about 8 feet out, to increase the Comet lead to 4-0 with 6:18 to play in the first.
The Comet defense was relentless in the first quarter as they didn’t allow a single Field Goal until Madelyn Lee of the Rockets hits a fast break layup in a crowded lane to cut the Comet lead to 8-4 with only 3:11 left to play in the opening quarter. The Comets went on to take a 12-7 lead after one.
The Rockets started the second quarter with a hard earned bucket from Norah Trefz to cut the lead to 12-9 seconds in. From there, a steal and fast break pass found a wide open Anna Spellman who nailed a jumper from the foul line to cut the Comet lead to 12-11 as the Rockets had scored 4 straight.
A cold blooded three ball from Grace Bender cooled off the Rocket run and extended the Comet lead to 15-11. The Rockets wouldn’t stay down long however as back to back buckets from Chloe Kazma and Madelyn Lee tied the game at 15. Anna Spellman handed the Rockets their first lead of the game moments later with a running layup to put the Bay ahead 17-16.
The Rocket run wasn’t over yet as Ainsley Lesh found the bottom of the net to extend the Bay lead to 19-16 with 3:16 to play as it was a 12-4 run to start the quarter. The Comets came out of the timeout and Callie Beckler hit a three to tie the game and calm everyone down for a moment. The game went back and forth from there until we went to the break with the Rockets ahead 26-21 as they outscored the Comets 19-9.
The Rockets came out red hot to start the second half with back to back buckets from Norah Trefz to hand them their largest lead of the game at 30-21. A Weingart bucket in the paint then extended the Rocket lead to double digits for the first time all game at 32-21 with 6:14 to play.
Down 11, the Comets needed to rally and did so with 4 straight points from Amalee Caldera. From there, a basket from Bender cut the score to 32-27. From there, a basket by Bey cut the Rocket lead to 32-29 as the Comets had scored 8 straight points. Another basket by Bey cut it to 32-31 as it was a 10-0 Comet run before a three ball from Norah Trefz stopped it. The quarter ended with the Rockets clinging to a 37-36 lead.
Broaddus hit a foul shot to tie it at 37 with 7:17 to play in the game. From there, the next several minutes were dominated by Amalee Caldera who scored an incredible 10 fourth quarter points to help the Comets secure a thrilling 49-48 victory. The game was actually tied at 44 all with 2:20 before a Caldera putback put the Comets ahead for good.
