Blue Comets upset No. 9 Baldwin for biggest win in years
Outscoring No. 9 Baldwin, 26-5, in the fourth quarter, the Chanute Blue Comets girls mounted a furious comeback to etch arguably its biggest win in half a decade on Tuesday night as they won, 50-39.
“I’m feeling great,” Chanute head coach Dustin Fox said. “Seeing the way the girls competed was great. We got down double figures against a really good team and it would’ve been easy to doubt. It would’ve been easy to make excuses. But they just dug deep and made play after play.”
Chanute trailed by as much as 15 points in Tuesday night’s tilt. But a 30-5 run from the end of the third quarter that carried through the final stanza flipped the game’s narrative.
“Sometimes all it takes is one good play,” Fox said. “All of a sudden, everybody starts to get confident. The basket felt awfully big in the fourth quarter and the girls took great shots. We got to the rim. We hit drive-and-kick threes. It was good basketball being played with great intensity on the defensive end. Kate (Uhner) starts that up top with her pressure. On the back side, our girls did a great job rebounding even though they were outsized.”
With seven minutes left in the fourth quarter, Chanute trailed Baldwin, 34-26.
A minute later, with the climax being a trey, steal and layup from freshman Kate Uhner, Chanute was ahead, 35-34.
Kate Uhner finished the game with 16 points on 5-of-11 shooting and five assists.
“She’s so tough. She looks skinny and looks like you could push her around,” Fox said. “But she’s that kid that comes back at you. There’s no back down in her. If anybody was going to lead the charge in the fourth quarter, it’d be her. She put the clamps on defensively and got the momentum going.”
Chanute briefly relinquished the lead after the 60-second blur. The Blue Comets reclaimed the advantage another minute later and never let go.
“We were focused on one possession at a time,” Fox said. “When this team does that, they put themselves in position to have success.”
Sarah Uhner also scored 16 points for Chanute while adding two steals. She was 5-of-6 from the charity stripe.
“She showed a lot of poise late,” Fox said. “She was the one knocking free throws down. She’s been in end-ofgame situations. We haven’t had a lot of wins the last few years, but when we did, she was the one making things happen.”
Buried underneath the frenzied fourth quarter was a second quarter surge to stay within striking distance. Chanute trailed, 24-9, in the second period before mounting an 8-0 run to end the half.
“It was huge,” Fox said. “In a timeout, I told the girls the game could get away from us if they’re not careful. We had to focus on getting stops and getting great shots. They got right back into it.”
Tuesday’s win affirmed Chanute’s 3-0 start and the Blue Comets’ early signs of resurgence.
“We’re a different team, but I don’t know if we’ve proven anything,” Fox said. “These girls will be the first ones to say they have bigger goals than a Tuesday night win in December. But it should be a confidence builder. It should let them know what they’re capable of. But we’re capable of so much more if we continue to put in the work. We’re babies … so we’ve got to stay humble and hungry.”
Baldwin’s Cami Collum led her squad with 12 points.
Up next
Chanute hosts Arkansas City on Friday.
“They lost to Winfield by a few buckets, who we beat this year,” Fox said. “If we get out and play defense like we’re capable of, it’s a game where we can hopefully take care of business.”
