After an evenly matched first quarter between Newman and Erie-Prophetstown on Thursday, Lucy Oetting provided the spark for the Comets.

The senior’s 3-pointer from the volleyball line at the first-quarter buzzer got them into the groove, and they pulled away for a 52-21 Three Rivers East win at home.

“This is a big game, a conference game, so when Lucy hit that 3 at the end, all of us could breathe and loosen up,” Gisselle Martin said. “We felt like, ‘OK, we’ve got this,’ because we believe in each other so much.”

After Oetting hit the buzzer-beater, she hit another 3 early in the second quarter to make it 19-6. Erie-Prophetstown’s Eden Jensen and Aubrey Huisman scored baskets around a Martin layup, but baseline buckets by Martin and Oetting made it 25-10 with 3:06 left in the first half.

“I think the key is just our work ethic; even when when the score is even, we’re still hustling and working harder than everyone else,” Oetting said. “I’d say our best games are when the scoring is spread out. When each of us all have six, eight, 10 points, and contribute with rebounds and steals, that’s when we’re at our best.”

Two more post baskets by Jensen cut the Panthers’ deficit to 25-14, but in the final minute of the half, Martin went coast-to-coast off a steal and Oetting put back her own miss to stretch the lead to 29-14 at the break.

“We went with a smaller lineup tonight to try and just change the pace a little bit,” E-P coach Chris Brown said. “They played 1-3-1 [half-court zone] for a little while, and we started tossing it back and forth because it’s a possession game for us; the less they have it on offense, the better. Then they went to man [to man] to really pressure us; it was physical, and we expected that. We missed a few shots and missed a few defensive assignments, and Newman is a very good team who took advantage.”

Lauren Abbott nailed a 3 to open the third quarter, then Lauren Punke hit a pull-up jumper off an Abbott screen as E-P cut the deficit to 10.

But Newman (19-5, 8-0 TRAC East) answered, again in the form of Oetting. Her three-point play on an underneath inbounds pass ignited a 23-2 run over the final 11:40, including a 15-0 run to end the third period.

In fact, Punke’s jumper with 3:55 left in the third was the final field goal of the game for the Panthers (11-10, 3-5 TRAC East), who missed their last 15 shots and managed just a pair of fourth-quarter free throws.

“Honestly, it was just us just playing together and playing good defense and communicating,” Martin said. “Once we do that, our offense is good too. We pass the ball around, get everybody involved, and we do a pretty good job.”

The Comets scored 13 points off of 17 E-P turnovers, and committed just four turnovers themselves.

“We have really good ball handlers, and I trust every one of my teammates to bring the ball up the court and be strong with it on offense,” Oetting said.

Oetting’s 22 points were just one off her career high, and she also had six rebounds and two steals. Martin finished with 14 points, seven rebounds, five assists and four steals, and Elaina Allen chipped in six points and two steals for the Comets, who are playing the rest of the season without junior guard Brooklyn Smith, who had surgery to repair a torn ACL last week. Both Oetting and Martin made sure to give Smith a shout out after the game.

“We did this for her tonight,” Martin said. “We miss her so much.”

Jensen finished with eight points and six rebounds, and Huisman had six points and seven boards. Abbott and Ashlyn Johnson both grabbed four rebounds and dished two assists for the Panthers, who were left ruing some missed opportunities to tighten up the game.

“I thought when we came out in the third quarter, we had five or six good looks and we just couldn’t make them. I feel like if we could just get a couple of those easy baskets to go in for us – and that’s been our nemesis all year – it changes the game,” Brown said. “We cut it to 10, and if we could’ve got it to six, then it’s different; it puts the pressure on them and takes it off of us. I’m proud of our effort, but we’ve got to start finishing at the basket.”