By ROBERT L. LEE

LAPLACE – After three days away from the basketball court, the St. Charles Catholic Lady Comets were a little rusty Tuesday, but it was expected.

What the St. James girls probably didn’t expect, however, was for the Lady Comets to shift back into their ever-increasing level of play in the second half and finish the game with a 13-point lead to win 53-40.

“We took a little while to get going,” said Lady Comets’ coach Erin Bacas. “But I figured it would happen.”

Aside from the physical kinks the players had to loosen, mentally the players were coming off one of their biggest highs this season, their latest win over E.D. White last week.

“E.D. White is becoming one of our big rivals,” she continued. “The game against E.D. White was the most intense I have ever seen them play. We came in with intensity from the first second. The win really propelled us to where we’re at now, which is set for at least third place in District.”

Bacas said, from what she hears, the St. Charles Catholic team has been making big improvements from last year.

“One of my goals for this season was to get 10 wins. Our tenth win was Tuesday against St. James. Before the game I told them the win against E.D. White means nothing if we don’t win this game.”

The Lady Comets rust affected their scoring the most, as they dropped in only seven points in the first eight minutes. Bacas said her team used their full-court press during the first half, but came back with it in the second half and began moving along the court like a well-oiled machine. The all-out press against the Lady Wildcats allowed the Lady Comets’ easier transition shots to help run their score up 19 points in the third quarter, after scoring a total 20 points in the first half.

“We played nine players, which kept the players fresh,” said Bacas. “At halftime we made maybe one or two minor adjustments. We kept going with our same game plan, but we knew we just had to hit our shots.”

After bumping their lead to nine points, 39-30 the Lady Comets continued their full-court press to hold their lead and outscore the Lady Wildcats 14-10 in the final quarter.

Their rotations allowed seven of their nine players points, with Amanda Helm leading with 15, Jenna Oncale taking 13 and Heather Heltz rounding out the top three scorers with 11 points.