Comets Drop Overtime Heartbreaker in Region Semifinals

After a series of last minute heroics willed Catonsville into overtime, Thursday night against top-seeded Hereford, a string of costly mistakes proved to be its downfall.

With the scored tied at 42 and under a minute to play, the Comets twice converted turnovers on possessions that potentially could have given them the lead and then fouled Hereford’s Kendra Herbenar 90 feet away from her own basket with just 12 seconds to play in the extra time.

The freshman point guard converted on the front end of her two free throws to give her Bulls the lead.  

After advancing the ball up court and calling timeout, the Comets actually had two chances to steal the game right back with 5.6 seconds remaining on the clock. However, Kayla Gibson’s three-point heave was too strong and Deb Milani’s last second put-back rolled harmlessly off the front iron, securing a 43-42 Hereford victory and a home game in the Class 3A North Final.

Despite the array of ticky-tack fouls called on Catonsville down the stretch—including a questionable reach-in that handed leading scorer Zoey Whittington her fifth foul midway through the overtime—Comets head coach Mike Mohler was quick to dismiss the notion that the referees ultimately decided the contest.

“The calls did have an impact, yeah. Did it cost us the game? No,” Mohler said. “We didn’t play well enough offensively. Their matchup zone really bugged us. I give them credit, they had a lot of deflections and we had a lot of turnovers. So that to me was really the game.”   

“We were trying anything and nothing was working. Every set that we tried just wasn’t working, so I give them credit. They really defended us well.”

That matchup zone, which caused 16 first-half turnovers, took away the Comets’ passing lanes while at the same time preventing Catonsville from driving into the lane to create offense.

This being the two team’s third matchup of the season (they split the previous two) Hereford coach Ellen Fitzkee knew what her squad had to do to lock down defensively.  

“We know that if you give them free reign, they do a nice job of attacking the basket—especially [Whittington],” Fitzkee said. “The first time we played them we got beat pretty bad with that. This being the rubber match game, we know each other so well, we both made each other look bad on offense.”

The Comets looked particularly anemic on offense during a five minute-plus long scoreless stretch during the fourth quarter.

After Whittington (team-high 16 points) rattled in a triple to earn Catonsville a 27-26 lead with just over six minutes to play, the Bulls reeled off eight points unanswered to take a 34-27 advantage with 1:40 remaining in the period. 

However, the Comets kept fighting, making a series of defensive stands while layups by Whittington and Rachel Schwaab (10 points) cut the deficit to three.  

Still down three with seconds to play after one final defensive stop, Whittington raced up court and banked in an improbable, desperation three-pointer as time expired to send the game to overtime.

Catonsville gained three separate one-point leads during the extra time, but Hereford responded on its following possession on each occasion to tie or snatch the lead right back, including a Rebecca Silver (team-high 16 points) made free throw that tied the game after a Deb Milani lay-in had earned the Comets a 42-41 lead with under a minute to play.

However, the combination of costly turnovers, untimely fouls and, most of all, a sound defensive scheme proved to be too much for the Comets.

“I feel like the defense was something we hadn’t faced in a real long time,” Whittington said after the game, justifiably a bit choked up. “It came down to my team giving 100 percent of what they could have [given]. But, tonight was just Hereford’s night. I feel like if one or two passes had gone better we could have beat them, but I am proud of my team.”