ALBANY — The top-seeded Albany Comets won the regional title Feb. 25, after knocking off Pecatonica and Rio in back-to-back games. The Comets return to the sectional for the second straight year, and this time they will play Six Rivers East rival Argyle.
“I have an amazing group of young ladies that are so resilient,” Albany coach Derik Doescher said.
His team opened the year with high expectations after reaching the sectional final in 2021. But a slow start (2-4 overall, 0-1 in conference) put the Comets on their heals.
“Since then we have won 20 games in a row; co-conference champs and regional champs back-to-back is amazing for our community,” Doescher said.
In the regional semifinal Feb. 24, Albany (22-4) defeated Pecatonica (12-14) 52-35. The Vikings led by a point at halftime as the Comets — playing without senior starter Kaiya Zurfluh — struggled shooting from the field.
The two sides were tied at 6-6 six minutes into the game, and a jumper from Maddie Hirsch put the Vikings ahead at the 11:57 mark. With nine minutes to play, the Comets saw a burst of energy and ran off a 11-4 run with three baskets from Brianna Dahl and a transition bucket plus a 3-pointer from Alana Durtschi. That momentum stalled soon after, with Pecatonica rattling off a 7-1 run to close out the half to take a 19-18 lead into the break.
Albany was just 1 of 14 (%) from 3-point range in the half, while hitting 6 of 12 shots (50%) from 2-point range. The Comets also committed 12 turnovers. Meanwhile the Vikings committed 18 turnovers.
The Albany players were challenged by their coaches at halftime and followed through. Slowly the Comets found themselves on top by three points with just under 12 minutes to play, but Durtschi caught fire for the Comets and scored seven straight points to put her team ahead by six with 10 minutes to play. Over the next seven minutes, a strong defensive showing by Albany kept the Vikings at bay, and the Comets eventually went up by 12 with just over three minutes to play.
The next night the Comets defeated Rio (14-13) 53-37 in the regional championship.
Dahl scored 14 points to lead Albany. The Comets closed the first half on a 14-4 run over the last 7 minutes, 34 seconds of play. In the second half, Rio was unable to make a large dent into the lead.
Albany’s seniors have 74 wins in their four years, an “amazing feat”, according to Doescher.
Conference rival Argyle (16-10) stands in the way of a second straight sectional semifinal appearance for Albany. In their two previous meetings this season, Albany defeated Argyle by 10 and 24 points.
“Thursday will be a big challenge against a very good Argyle squad, but we couldn’t be happier to have an opportunity to play in the sectional,” Doescher said.
Dahl, the program’s all-time scoring leader, is averaging 16.5 points per game this season. Durtschi has paced 11 ppg, while Zurfluh, who returned for the regional championship game, is averaging 10.2 points.
