Cardinal pressure too much for New London

ELDON ? Cardinal?s fast start made for a big early lead that the Comets rode through the final buzzer in Tuesday?s win vs. New London.

Cardinal (3-2, 3-1 SEISC south) put together a 16-3 run that spanned most of the first quarter to open up a double-digit lead and cruised the rest of the way to take a 50-42 victory. The win was the third straight for Cardinal after beginning the year 0-2.

Full-court pressure bothered the New London (0-3, 0-3) backcourt all night as Cardinal racked up a whopping 20 steals. Felisha Durflinger owned eight of those steals and turned many of them into instant fastbreak offense as she led the Comets with 11 points.

?It?s definitely something we?re going for. We?re trying to run that fastbreak offense, and we want the other team to make mistakes so we can,? said head coach Suzanne Smith. ?If there?s a chance for the steal, I want the girls to go for it.?

In the short periods that Cardinal wasn?t forcing turnovers, New London did what it could to claw back into the game. The Tigers closed the gap to as few as two points early in the third quarter as Mackenzie Hummel hit two jumpers coming out of the halftime break to make the score 22-20.

But Cardinal had an answer.

Liz Nichols hit from deep on Cardinal?s next possession and the defense once again did its job. Laci Moore and Durflinger each came up with a steal and a layup to make for a 7-0 run that spanned less than 30 seconds.

The closest New London would get again is a six-point spread early in the fourth quarter with the score 35-29 following a Samantha Koontz 3-ball. But Cardinal answered right back once again as Chelsea Aschenbrenner hit a jumper to keep the her team out of reach.

Aschenbrenner?s bucket was just a continuation of the trend of adding to the lead when it was needed.

?We didn?t play our best the whole way. That was obvious to me,? Smith said. ?The girls want to play well along with getting a win, but we have to pick it up a little bit to do both of those. We played OK, and got a win, but it wasn?t great.?

Cory Campbell converted an old-fashioned 3-point play and Durflinger added on more steal to make the score 48-38 with a minute left to seal the deal.

Fast break points from Campbell and Leah McCarroll capped the big run in the first quarter that put the Comets in control for the rest of the evening.

Campbell finished with eight points and 11 rebounds while McCarroll and Aschenbrenner each scored six.

Next up for the Comets will be a tough contest at home vs. Pekin Thursday night.