Minus Coach Mohler, Comets Pull Away From Woodlawn, 59-40

Catonsville may not have had fiery head coach Mike Mohler for the first 16 minutes against Woodlawn Tuesday night, but with the amount of pressure the Comets poured on and the layups and free throws that came as a result, they did just fine without him.

Playing under assistant coach Al Fultz, Catonsville racked up 14 steals before intermission, and, after narrowly trailing at the end of the first frame, outscored the visiting Warriors 20-6 in the second quarter—a period that included 14 unanswered Comets points.

When Mohler returned from a work obligation at halftime, Catonsville put it in cruise control and coasted to a 59-40 victory to cap off a 16-win (and only three loss) regular season.

“It’s great. He’s there every day so it’s not anything different,” guard Maddie Hunt said, referring Fultz’s fill-in duty.

“He knows exactly what we do. It’s just like playing for Coach Mike. I think we came out strong like we normally do and played like Coach Mike was there.”

The Comets were led by sophomore Taylor Barton who netted a game-high 16 points. Senior Rachel Schwaab tallied nine and juniors Deb Milani and Hunt each added eight apiece.

Several of Barton’s buckets were set up by disciplined interior passing that kept Woodlawn on the perimeter chasing the ball. Milani and Schwaab combined for eight assists and several other Comets precisely dished the ball around to set up countless easy baskets.

“I was amazed by some of that,” Fultz said of the Comets’ textbook passing. “We practice that every day and finally it came true tonight.

“Coach [Mohler] likes to joke that we must practice turning the ball over because nobody could do it that much accidentally. The girls did a good job tonight.”

Facilitating the ball was not easy for Woodlawn (9-6), largely due to a pesky full court press and suffocating 2-3 zone employed by Catonsville on defense.

The Warriors were paced by guard Imani Carter who totaled 14 points and 12 rebounds, but as a team, Woodlawn never could get into a consistent offense after the first quarter.

As a result, the Warriors compensated with a tough style of play that challenged the Comets physically. However, Catonsville’s confidence and philosophy never wavered.

“You just got play through it,” Hunt said. “We all came together and just played our game and didn’t get into any of that because that’s not our style of play and that’s not what we do.”  

BOX SCORE

Catonsville 59, Woodlawn 40

W 13 6 12 9 ---- 40

C 11 20 15 13 ---- 59

C – T. Barton 16, R. Schwaab 9, M. Hunt 8, D. Melani 8, K. Gibson 6, H. Kendrick 4, B. Wallace 3, R. Gast 3, D. Francy 2, M. Wichert.

W –  I. Carter 14, B. Rice 8, J. Inne 7, D. Sessoms 7, B. Coleman 2, K. Bailey 2.