ALBANY — It’s been said that playing a team for a third time in a season is never easy, especially when they are a conference rival. The Comets experienced it first hand against Barneveld in a WIAA Division 5 regional championship Feb. 13, and for the third time this season walked away winners. And that came a night after a narrow victory over Burlington Catholic Central.

“We knew it was going to be a grind, because Catholic Central took so much out of us because they were such a good team,” Albany coach Derik Doescher said after his team’s 48-34 regional final win. “And we played Barneveld exactly one week ago in this building. That third time, there’s no hidden cards. Everybody kind of knows what you do well, what you don’t do well, and both sides knew it was going to be a grinder that was going to come down to who could make a shot here and there.”

The last time the Comets were regional champions was in 2010, when current roster was just beginning elementary school — at the oldest. The last 11 years have been an adventure for the program, to say the least. That 2010 team lost to rival Black Hawk in the sectional semifinal, and for much of the next decade the school struggled to win a handful of games in a season. 

Perhaps the lowest point came during a two-win 2014 season, when the Comets lost to Barneveld 70-5.

“I was in this gym one night (as AD and boys coach) when Barneveld was beating our girls 50-0 at halftime in a varsity basketball game. That was kind of rock bottom,” Doescher said. 

Doescher, formerly the coach of the boys program, took over control of the girls in 2017 and saw the team improve by 6 wins, 6 wins and 2 wins during hist first three years. 

“It’s nothing that us coaches have done — from Day 1 it’s been installing the right attitude, but then the girls have got to take the attitude and run with it,” Doescher said. “It’s all about them, and so what they have done in the last five years to take this program from the bottom teams in the conference — and the state — to where we are now, it’s incredible and just a representative of those kids — the are good character kids, hard-working kids.”

The freshman class from his first season includes two starters in their senior season — Lily Brewer and Jada Flannery. In the 67-56 regional semifinal win Feb. 12 against Catholic Central, Brewer finished with 9 points, while Flannery had 5 while fighting for rebounds in the paint all night. Just 24 hours later, the Comets beat Barneveld 48-34 to claim the regional title.

“This is something Dash (Doescher) has been pushing for — that was our goal the whole season,” junior guard Brianna Dahl said. “Last year our seniors brought us to the Fall River game, and this year, our seniors brought us to Barneveld in the regional championship, which is pretty far. It’s pretty exciting.”

While both the Eagles (6-9) and Comets (18-2) struggled with their shooting in the opening minutes of the game, Albany was also hampered with some tough foul trouble. Dahl picked up her second foul of the half with 8:01 left on the clock, and Doescher made the tough decision to sit her on the bench. Flannery and sophomore forward Gracie Freitag also picked up two fouls in the half.

“To sit (Dahl) for 11 minutes of an 18-minute half,” Doescher said, collecting his thoughts. “Two things benefit us: It saves on the legs, but the biggest thing is — wow — hats off to her teammates. When she left, they extended that lead.”

Struggling to find offense, the Comets relied on their defense to make the difference. Enter Brewer, who constantly found a way to get a hand on the ball all game long. She finished the night with 8 rebounds and 3 steals, as well as forcing more than five jump balls.

“I’m a senior, so I don’t know how many games I have left, so I have to leave it all out there,” Brewer said.

When Albany went into halftime holding a 19-12 lead, Doescher made it a point in the locker room to mention the effort put in by Brewer.

“She’s not going to stand out in stats — she’s not a flashy player. But she does all the right things. She’s a ‘lunch pale and a hard-hat’ type kid,” Doescher said. “I told them in the locker room that there is one girl that’s doing all the little things to try and get one more day, and that’s Lily Brewer. If you want to advance and you want to survive in the tournament, you’ve got to do the little things. She was a big part of this victory.”

In the second half, having Dahl back in the lineup was a shot in the arm and was noticeable instantly. On Albany’s opening possession, Dahl scored on a putback. Minutes later, Flannery did the same, with Dahl scoring on a drive moments later to make it 25-12 and force Barneveld to call a timeout.

“I thought in the second half, that 6-0 run was huge, because it gave us some separation and confidence,” Doescher said. 

Dahl stretched the lead to 15 points with a steal and coast-to-coast drive with 14:48 left on the clock. The Eagles slowly began creeping back into it, bringing the deficit down to 9 points with 11:36 left, but Dahl hit a 3-pointer to stop the run in its tracks. With 3:33 left, Dahl picked up her fourth foul as her team led by 12. 

But the Comets didn’t flinch, and never let Barneveld back to within single digits again.

As the clock struck zero, the Comets and the home fans celebrated, with decibel levels eerily similar to a sell-out crowd despite capacity restrictions. The players not only celebrated by hoisting the regional final plaque for the wall, but each had a chance to cut off a piece of the net as a personal piece of memorabilia. 

“I’m so glad it happened my senior year — especially with everything that’s been going on this year — it’s just amazing,” Brewer said. “When I come back here every year, it’s awesome to know that I’ll remember that number (2021) up on that (sectional) board and know that was a part of it.”

Doescher, flanked by two daughters, finished cutting down the nets. It was the first time in his coaching career with either the boys or girls program that he was able to take part in that moment.

Dahl, who had 20 points against Catholic Central, finished with 13 in the win over Barneveld. She is within 42 points of scoring 1,000 for her career — and she’ll have a chance to add to it next year as a senior.

Freitag had 12 against BCC and 8 in the Barneveld game. Freshman Alana Durtschi had 7 and 10 in the two games, and Payton Wachholz went for 9 and 7.

On Sunday, Feb. 14, coaches from Albany, Black Hawk (19-0), Rio (13-6) and Almond-Bancroft (15-9) held a seeding meeting. Black Hawk, the top-ranked team in the state over the last three seasons, unsurprisingly received the top seed. Albany, ranked third in the state in D5, was seeded second and will host Rio. 

“We need to clean up our offense and our defense a little bit, for sure, especially if we’ll maybe have to play Black Hawk” in the playoffs, Dahl said. “We’ll definitely have to clean up our defense to keep Bailey Butler in front of us, because she’s a phenomenal player.”