By Yaneek Smith

Special to the Sentinel-Tribune

GENOA — It was a combination of a stout defensive effort by Genoa and a bad shooting night for Eastwood as the Comets defeated the Eagles, 49-35, handing them their first Northern Buckeye Conference loss of the season.

With the loss, Eastwood drops to 8-4 and 6-1 in the league, and Genoa is now 6-4 and 5-2, just one game behind the Eagles in the NBC. Oak Harbor, which defeated Fostoria, 49-44, on Friday, is now 8-3 and 5-2 in the conference, tied with the Comets for second place.

For Genoa, the victory is payback after a 44-42 loss to Eastwood on December 1.

One of the key sequences in the game came late in the second quarter when the Eagles rallied from a nine-point deficit to tie the score at 20-20 following a jumper by Kayla Buehler.

But Comet guard Izzy West hit a long two-pointer to give Genoa the lead for good with 41 seconds to play, and Addisyn Moritz drained a three-pointer from the right wing at the buzzer to make it 25-20.

“I think going into halftime, it was anyone’s game,” said Genoa coach Glenn Black. “But they’re well-coached, they’re a good team. The ball just bounced our way tonight.”

The Eagles never seriously threatened in the second half, falling behind by 10 points in the third quarter and ending the period trailing, 35-27. From there, the Comets slowly pulled away as Eastwood did not score its first basket in the fourth quarter until Reilly Might scored on a layup with 3:10 to play.

It is the third consecutive loss for the Eagles, who host Maumee on Thursday.

“We just have to continue to build. We need to get better at rebounding. This is a small bump in the road, and we have to be ready to go,” said Eastwood coach Brittany Butler.

“We know we are going to get everyone’s best shot. We know what we have to do to take care of business. We’re still focused, and we’re still going to shoot for the league title.”

Butler says a slow start did not help.

“I think the biggest thing is we got behind early, 12-4,” she said. “I’m proud of them for fighting back and climbing the ladder. We had the momentum in the second quarter, (but) that was a big shot by Moritz before halftime. I felt like our girls were still in it.”

Butler added there was also a lack of execution on the part of the Eagles.

“I thought we got really good looks, we just missed too many layups and box outs,” said Butler. “If we had limited them to just one shot, it could’ve been a different ballgame.”

Moritz led all scorers with 21 points, and seven of her teammates scored at least two points. Lucy Schlageter and Makenna Moritz finished with six points apiece.

“(Addisyn) Moritz is a really nice player. She took control of the offense and can score in a variety of ways, handling the ball, off the dribble, shooting it,” said Butler. “When someone is having a big night, you have to know where they are at all times.”

Buehler had a team-high 14 points and Might, Jordan Jensen and Paige Hoodlebrink scored six points apiece.

“Our plan was to keep the ball out of Buehler’s hands. She had 10 points at the half and 14 overall,” said Black. “Izzy West, Adrianna Williams and Lucy Schlageter all did a good job tonight (on Buehler).

“We just try to play hard and give a maximum effort.”

In the first quarter, Jensen scored to bring the Genoa lead to 6-4, and six points, which came from Kiera Combs and Addisyn Moritz and Makenna Moritz, pushed the Comet lead to 12-4.

In the second quarter, following two free throws from Buehler to cut Genoa’s led to 15-8, the Eagles went to a 1-3-1 zone that gave the Comets some problems. From there, Eastwood went on a 12-5 run with eight of those points coming from Buehler to get the score to 20-20.