ALBANY — While the Comets have high hopes on this young season after winning 16 games last season, the Cardinals are trying to see just how good their defense is.
A 50-28 nonconference win Nov. 30 over Albany, which averaged over 62 points per game coming into the contest, gave Brodhead’s coaching staff something to smile about.
“The key (to the win) started defensively. I thought it was our best defensive effort of the year,” Brodhead coach Brian Kammerer said. “I told the girls afterwards that it was a great team defensive effort, but I really wanted to give a special shout-out to Carisa Purdue — she guarded who, what I think, is one of the best local athletes around in Brianna Dahl.”
Dahl made a name for herself as a freshman a season ago, scoring nearly 11 points per game and earning second-team all-conference honors in the Six Rivers East. She was held to just six points against Brodhead.
“I thought Carissa did an amazing job. Her only job tonight was to contain Brianna, who is a phenomenal player,” Kammerer said.
The Cardinals used a high-pressure defense that forced Albany players into poor shot selections and second-guessing their decisions throughout the game. A 4 of 11 mark at the free throw line and multiple missed layups and open looks from the block showed the mounting frustration of Comets players as the game went on.
“We knew coming in and playing Brodhead every year that coach Kammerer does a great job,” Albany coach Derik Doescher said. “They are going to play physical, man-to-man, get up in you and make you feel uncomfortable. If you react like you are uncomfortable, that pressure is going to be there all night.”
The key (to the win) started defensively. I thought it was our best defensive effort of the year.Brodhead coach Brian Kammerer
Meanwhile, Brodhead turned to freshman post player Abbie Dix on offense. Dix scored 26 points — 12 in the first half, 14 in the second half — and dominated the boards all night before fouling out with just under three minutes to play.
“She’s amazing for a freshman. I just talked to our girls — the sky is the limit for her in four years,” Doescher said. “The amazing thing about Abbie is she is pretty raw right now as a basketball player and she’s out there playing basketball as an athlete. But she’s the first one back on defense; sometimes she’s dribbling the basketball down like a point guard; she’s able to do a lot of things that most 6-footers aren’t able to do. And her effort is just non-stop.”
The Brodhead coaches see a lot of potential in Dix, who is coming off a stunning volleyball season.
“With her being a freshman, there will be some ups and downs. The last couple games weren’t her best, but for a kid like that, the sky is the limit,” Kammerer said. “We added Carly Mohns to our coaching staff — and what a great example — and we gave her Abbie as her project to bring up. Carly is coming from DI programs (Iowa and UW-Green Bay).”
Doescher knows that his team has a lot of work to do as the conference slate nears. The Comets open Six Rivers East play Friday, Dec. 6 at Monticello.
“We need to build some confidence offensively. We need to see the ball go through the net, whether that means getting to the free throw line or getting paint touches and perimeter shots,” Doescher said.
Brodhead opened the game on a 7-0 run. The Comets took nearly six minutes to score their first points of the game — a pair of free throws by Kaiya Zurfluh — and then took an 8-7 lead. The Cardinals bounced back, holding Albany to just one more bucket the rest of the half, going into the locker room with a 17-10 advantage. In the second half, the offense was more evenly spready out for Brodhead, which outscored Albany 33-18 over the final 18 minutes.
“If you handle the basketball and attack their defense, they might have to take a step back or two. We knew that coming in, and we prepared for that, but I just felt like we didn’t handle it very well — and that’s a credit to their defense,” Doescher said of Brodhead. “They made us do things we didn’t want to do and they didn’t let us get to the spots we wanted to get to.”
Kristin O’Bel led Albany with eight points, and Madisyn Kail had seven for Brodhead.
The Cardinals (3-1, 1-1 Rock Valley) now turn around and get back into conference play, with Clinton (Dec. 5) and Big Foot (Dec. 10) up next.
“We have our work cut out with Clinton, one of our conference leaders,” Kammerer said.
