ALBANY — On the surface, a 58-20 win in the postseason appears solid. But in the case of Albany’s win over Pecatonica in the opening round of the WIAA Division 5 playoffs Feb. 19, it wasn’t pretty.

“It felt like 36 minutes where we couldn’t make shots and turned the ball over,” Albany coach Derik Doescher said. “We had to settle in and find ourselves a little bit. Find our identity on the defensive end and on the offensive end.”

Albany (16-7) took an early 2-0 lead thanks to a drive from freshman Brianna Dahl just 29 seconds into the game. It took nearly four minutes before the Comets would hit another field goal. In the meantime, Pecatonica struggled to put the ball in the hoop itself. The Vikings starting the game 1-for-6 from the field with five turnovers in their first eight possessions.

Through the first 12 minutes of the game, Pecatonica was just 2-for-16 (12.5 percent) from the field with 10 turnovers, while Albany, which had slowly strengthened its lead to 14-4, committed eight turnovers and was a slightly better 6-for-18 (33.3 percent) from the field.

“We always come out super energetic in the first half and we always have to remind ourselves to stay focused, catch the ball first, and then run the offense,” Albany senior Libby Beck said.

The Comets picked up their play from there, finishing the half on a 17-7 run in which they were 4-for-10 shooting from the field, 7 of 8 from the free throw line, and just three turnovers in the final 6:30 of the half. Pecatonica, while nearly doubling its scoring output in the final third of the half, shot a dreadful 0-for-8 from the stripe in the opening frame, and was just 5 of 24 from the field with 15 turnovers.

“Tonight was probably the worst night we’ve shot in a long time,” Pecatonica head coach Linda Hendrickson said.

Albany didn’t let a 31-11 deficit go to waste, allowing just one basket in the first 13 minutes of the second half to take a 49-16 advantage with five minutes to play.

Dahl led Albany with 16 points, while senior Libby Beck had 13 and Lily Brewer nine. The Comets hit five 3s and were 13 of 18 from the free throw line. 

“That’s something we’ve been up-and-down with all year,” Doescher said of life at the free throw line. “There was one game we were outstanding — we went to Highland and were 17-for-17 on the road. Then there were nights where we go to Argyle and lose by one in overtime and went 6-for-17. It’s something we try to focus on from a mental standpoint: it’s a free throw — step up and knock it down. It’s repetition.”

Freshman Tessa Green scored six points to lead Pecatonica, which finished 1-for-10 from the stripe and hit three 3s. 

The Comets began a program rebuilding process last season when Doescher took over the program. The school’s athletic director and former boys coach, Doescher and the players last season made a vow to change the future of the team. A 4-win squad turned into a 10-win team last year, and the 16 wins this season is the most for the program in the more than 17 seasons.

“For these girls to be in a position where we won 15 regular season games — and now 16 — it’s not a position we’re accustomed to. We took a step last year getting to 10 wins,” Doescher said.

Beck has been through the ringer with the program, and she said the progress that’s been made in such a short time is remarkable.

“I’ve been here when we were down — my freshman and sophomore year — and then we got a new coaching staff my junior year,” Beck said. “We were all like, OK, we are going to make a change here. We are going to give it 100 percent in practice, in the summer and all the way through to get us to where we want to go. Every year it’s gotten better.”

Even after losing senior Payton Zurfluh to a knee injury midseason, the Comets never gave up. Beck said more pressure was put on the freshmen and sophomores to step in to fill the role of her fallen comrade.

“We had five seniors to start, and losing a senior we had to depend on the underclassmen to step it up and take that maturity leap. A freshman playing a varsity game is a big step,” Beck said.

Up next for the Comets is Rio (17-6), the sectional’s five-seed that defeated Juda 77-44 in the first round. Dahl said that the team believes in their coaches to put them in the best position possible to move on.

“Doescher pushes us really well in practice. Nothing is easy. Nothing is given to you. You really have to work hard for a lot of stuff, especially in practice. You have to push it,” Dahl said.

A home win over Rio Feb. 22 would then put the Comets in rare territory — a regional championship. The last regional championship game Albany played in was a 63-52 win over Burlington Catholic Central in 2010. This season, a regional final would be against either conference rival Barneveld (5-16) or top-seeded Fall River (20-3).

“I told them in there (locker room) that if we are going to have a chance at knocking off a Rio, we’re going to have to make some shots,” Doescher said. “Hopefully getting this one out helps and we can play clean basketball after the tip. Hopefully Friday is decided by who makes the most shots, and not who makes the most turnovers.”

Pecatonica, meanwhile, has been mired in program darkness in recent years. The Vikings’ four wins this season equal the total number of wins for the school over the previous four seasons combined. The last team with a winning record in the program was the 15-8 squad in the 2008-09 season.

“We’re a very young team. Most of our players are freshmen and sophomores that get quality minutes,” Hendrickson said. 

The first-year coach thanked her three seniors, which played in their final prep game in the loss.

“I tell them ‘thank you.’ They believed in the program, and they believed in what we were doing this year. They could have easily had said ‘forget it,’ but that’s not what they did. They stepped to the plate,” Hendrickson said. “They were a part of the group that’s leading the effort to change things at Pecatonica, because that’s what we’re looking to do. We’re looking at the future, which is brighter.”