ARGYLE — In a battle for second place in the Six Rivers East standings, it was the host Orioles that walked away with a win on an icy, cold evening Jan. 10.

With a winter storm barreling down on the region, officials moved the JV and varsity games up a half hour in hopes to avoid poor driving conditions as much as possible. The change in rhythm could have been a factor in performance on the court for both teams.

“Argyle is a really good team,” said assistant coach Brandon Bakken after Argyle’s 39-35 win over Albany in girls basketball. Bakken was filling in for head coach Derik Doescher, who missed the game due to illness. “We felt like we could have gotten to the rim a little bit more and finished around the rim — we settled for a lot of 10 to 15 footers. If we’re making them, we’re a tough team to beat. We think we’d be a tougher team to beat if we got to the rim and finish around there too, becoming multi-dimensional.”

Both teams struggled shooting the ball from the field from the start, and the whistles reigned supreme entering halftime with Argyle ahead 21-20. The Comets were called for 11 fouls in the opening half, while the Orioles were charged 15 times for body violations. The result was several players on both sides entering drastic foul trouble.

Grace Ganshert, Rachel Gilbertson and Tori Lantz each collected three fouls in the first half for Argyle. Ganshert picked up her third foul at the 10:30 mark in the first half, and Lantz picked her third up just 25 seconds later, which sent Albany’s Brianna Dahl to the charity stripe for bonus free throws. Gilbertson, who came in off the bench, saw her playing time increase with Lantz on the pine. However, Gilbertson picked up her third foul with 2:19 left in the half and her team nursing a 19-13 lead. 

“I said that we need to clean up our game, and we need to play it the Oriole way, instead of this sloppy hacking style. It was lazy defense,” Argyle coach Nicole Allison said.

Albany was not immune to the whistle either. Forward Kristin O’Bel picked up two fouls in less than three minutes from tip-off, and Dahl, the Comets’ leading scorer, picked up back-to-back fouls within seven seconds of each other just over six minutes into the game. Jada Flannery, off the bench, was called for two fouls in the half as well.

With all the stoppage of play, it was even harder for the players on the court to get into a rhythm. Argyle’s first basket came two minutes into the game on a 3-pointer by Ganshert, and a putback by Maggie Godfrey a minute later made it 6-1. The Orioles would go nearly four minutes before getting another basket, and ended the half with just five field goals. Argyle finished 10 of 14 from the free throw line in the half.

“It was huge for us,” Allison said of her team’s free throw shooting success. “We have been working on our free throws and defense nonstop. It’s just honing in on those little things, and that was the difference maker.”

The Comets struggled shooting even more. It took 5 minutes, 22 seconds after tipoff for the visiting squad to hit a field goal. Albany also finished the opening frame with five field goals, but struggled to a 9 of 18 mark from the line.

In the second half, the whistles all but stopped. Argyle was called for just three fouls over the final 18 minutes, with Lantz picking up her fourth with 8:09 to play, and Gilbertson joining her with 1:54 left. Albany was called for eight fouls in the half.

Much to the chagrin of the Orioles, the Comets never went away despite the fouls. After McKenzee Granberg hit a 3 to open up the half for Argyle, Albany scored seven straight points to take a 27-24 lead with 14:58 left in regulation. The Orioles later tied it at 30 with 9:47 left and took a 33-30 lead after a Ganshert 3 at the 8:55 mark.

“My girls are fighters. They have a tenacity, and, if I’m being honest, we’ve had a helter-skelter season so far, but when it comes down to it, they play with a lot of heart and they play together really well. They work really well as a team, no matter who is out on the floor,” Allison said.

Albany bounced back, with Dahl hitting a pair of free throws and taking a steal coast to coast to make it 34-33 with just 2:29 left. Lantz scored in the post at the 2:04 mark to give Argyle the lead again, but O’Bel tied it back up with a free throw 10 seconds later. The final go-ahead points of the game came on a pair of free throws from Godfrey with 43.2 seconds left on the clock.

Bakken called a timeout with 36 seconds remaining to set up an offensive play to shoot for the tie — or the win. Dahl got an open look on a deep jumper but the ball clanked off the rim. Argyle grabbed the rebound and ran around for 20 seconds before the Orioles were able to foul to set up bonus free throws — both of which Lantz knocked down to seal the game.

“The coaching staff takes the blame for that one (the ending). We didn’t tell the girls to foul out of the timeout. We were so concentrated on making that shot and what we would do if we made a two or a three, so I told the girls that we’ll take the blame for that one,” Bakken said. “Hindsight is 20/20 on that one. Brianna Dahl got a good look and I told her 10 times out of the next 10 she’ll make that shot — it just didn’t happen tonight. At the end of the day, we still have to score more points than we did tonight if we want to get the ‘W.’”

Ganshert led Argyle with 10 points, while Lantz had nine and Godfrey 8. The Orioles made just 11 field goals in the game — eight 2s and three 3s. Argyle also finished 14 of 18 from the free throw line.

“A kid that came in off the bench tonight that was key was Rachel Gilbertson with her toughness and tough defense that she played,” Allison said. “I have some sophomores (Godfrey, Lantz and Ganshert and they came up with some key rebounds for us. McKenzee Granberg, our little floor general, she just slowed everyone down and said, ‘We can do this. This is my last home game against Albany, let’s get it done.’ I was proud of all of them.”

Dahl led Albany with 13 points. Payton Wachholz overcame a finger injury in the first half to finish with eight points, a mark matched by teammate Kaiya Zurfluh. The Comets made just 10 shots from the field in the game, including three triples, and went 12 for 22 from the line.

Black Hawk is unbeaten in conference play — in fact, no team has come close. The Warriors have won all five conference games by more than 43 points. Argyle is second in the standings at 4-1, while Albany is third at 3-2, a half-game ahead of Barneveld. Albany hosts Barneveld Jan. 16, while Argyle is at Juda and Black Hawk is at Monticello the same evening.

“It was a good, low-scoring ball game. Both teams played hard. This is a big game for our conference, and our girls knew that, so it’s a little disappointing coming out of here with a loss,” Bakken said. “At the end of the day, we’ll get back at it.”