Comets fall in home opener, 52-38

GIRLS BASKETBALL: GARNER-HAYFIELD, VENTURA 52, CHARLES CITY 38

Comets fall in home opener, 52-38

Making adjustments seen as positive in first pair of games

The Charles City girls’ basketball team lost in its home opener Thursday night, 52-38 to Garner-Hayfield, Ventura. The makeup game loss that was postponed from Monday night’s winter weather blunder, marked the second loss of the season for the Comets. But attitudes are still positive because of what players have been learning from the two defeats.

“The girls are making good adjustments,” said head coach Danielle Rippentrop.

“We’re seeing things, and that might be late, after the fact that I tell them, but they’re going to start seeing that themselves. It’s something that comes with playing and basketball IQ.”

The Comets trailed by just four points at halftime, a 28-24 deficit. But as the third quarter waned on, the Comets were held scoreless from the floor for the entire third quarter.

Four free throws were the only tallies in the point column, leaving Charles City down 38-24.

The game didn’t end a terribly sour note, however.

Senior Taylor Hoffman hit back-to-back 3-pointers, followed by a jump shot from senior Jamie Sindlinger, that helped the Comets erased a 20-point deficit in the final three minutes of the game.

The Comets ended the match with the Cardinals on a 8-2 run.

Rippentrop said she took responsibility for the loss because she felt she could have better prepared the team. “We’ll get better. We have things that we’re still working on, but we’re getting better every time,” Rippentrop said. “We have some young girls that we need to find a continuity between the girls and a flow.”

The only to find that flow, however, is to just keep playing more and more games together.

The Comets have two freshmen, Sami Heyer and Jodie Sindlinger, who play a significant amount of time and are crucial to the Comets’ offense.

Heyer, the ball handler and leading scorer on Thursday night, is still working with Rippentrop to find the flow for the game. But the only way to find that flow is more practice.

“Playing together. That’s all we can do,” Rippentrop said. “You can’t coach it; you can’t force it. It’s just something that will come.”

Heyer had 10 points Thursday night and tacked on three assists to her line.

Jodie contributed with three rebounds, six points and 20-plus minutes of playing time — the fourth most on the team.

Charles City shot just 30 percent from the floor, but matched the Cardinals’ freethrow shooting at 50 percent.

The category the Comets did claim against the Cardinals was 3-point shooting.

Charles City shot 26 percent while holding Garner-Hayfield to zero percent.

By Stephen Koenigsfeld sports@charlescitypress.com