Reed-Custer’s Alyssa Wollenzein turned in one of the most impressive efforts imaginable on a basketball court on Tuesday.

The junior guard ended the third quarter of the Comets’ nonconference game at Beecher with an 11-0 run of her own, the first nine of those coming 40 seconds apart, to turn an eight-point halftime deficit into a nine-point lead heading to the fourth.

But after struggling with turnovers in the third – Wollenzein’s final eight points of the frame came via turnovers – the Bobcats flipped the script, using their full-court defense to get some transition buckets of their own to reclaim the lead late and hold on for a 48-46 win, their fourth in their last five games.

“Coming off that third quarter, I challenged my girls,” Bobcats coach Adam Keen said. “ ‘This is a regional game. If you want to win a regional, you’ve got to come back in these games. What happens when things go to crap?’

“And you saw a look in these girls. These sophomores and these two seniors, they’re different. Us being a dynamic team, going 10 deep and being able to change things out, I think that’s why we were able to come out on top.”

Defense was the defining factor from the jump, as the Bobcats (12-9) built their early lead by forcing four Reed-Custer (9-11) turnovers on the Comets’ first four possessions to take a 16-13 lead after a quarter despite Wollenzein’s 11-point opening frame.

That lead grew to 26-18 at the break, but out of the half, it was all Reed-Custer. The Comets outscored the Bobcats 21-4 in the third, including 14 points off Beecher turnovers.

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Reed-Custer's Alyssa Wollenzein, center, splits a pair of Beecher defenders during a game at Beecher Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (Mason Schweizer)

Wollenzein began her run by drilling a 3-pointer from the left baseline to put the Comets up 31-30 with 1:55 left in the third, scored six more points over the next 40 seconds off back-to-back-to-back Beecher turnovers, and then, after a Bobcats timeout, got a steal and took it the other way just before the third-quarter horn sounded.

Comets coach Shelby Zwolinski has seen her three-year starting junior guard do plenty of unimaginable things already, but nothing like the display she put on over those few minutes on Tuesday.

“She’s playing a whole different ballgame than she has the last two years,” Zwolinski said of Wollenzein. “She’s just an animal. I love coaching her. … She has full confidence in being able to do that. She knows she still has work to do on both ends, but it was amazing just to see that quick of a turnaround happen in that game."

As quickly as the Comets claimed momentum, the Bobcats took it right back in the fourth.

Gianno Bonomo’s first two points of the night came in the opening seconds of the final stanza, the start of a 14-2 run the Bobcats opened the fourth quarter on, with Madison Smith knotting things at 41-41 three minutes into the quarter.

Allie Johnson split a pair of free throws just seconds later off a Comets turnover to put the Bobcats back ahead 42-41, a lead that climbed to as large as 48-44 as the Bobcats went 6 for 11 from the charity stripe in the fourth.

Aubrey Tiltges tied Smith with a team-high 12 points Tuesday. She credited the team’s full-court man-to-man defense for allowing their late comeback.

“We went back to our [full-court] man and were just being more aggressive, trying to get steals to get the ball back,” Tiltges said. “That’s what [Keen] told us to do, and I guess we just got more motivated. …

“Defense is our main thing. It’s what we have to do to win.”

Aside from Tiltges and fellow senior Molly Vladika, the other eight Bobcats on this year’s roster are all part of an exciting sophomore class. As Keen has noticed his young team start to understand winning principles more, Tiltges has seen her younger teammates continue to grow as teams around them have seen some post-holiday falloff.

“I feel like a lot of teams slow down after holidays, but I feel like we just keep picking things up and working things out,” Tiltges said. “Just keep going and reach towards regionals.”