Jan. 31, 2015 Girls Basketball Steinert's Morgan "The Menace" Comfort tries to slow down Nottingham's Liana Lugo during the first half of today's game at Steinert (Photo by Amanda Ruch/[email protected]). With help from the ‘enemy’, Comfort comes up big as Spartans beat Stars By Rich Fisher Fish4scores.com Jan. 31: Ohhh, the irony of it all. In a game where tons of girls contributed to Steinert’s 50-47 girls’ basketball win over Nottingham today, the two decisive baskets came on jumpers from Morgan “The Menace” Comfort. The sophomore guard has been working on her shooting with none other than Pete Larkin, who happens to be the father of – we repeat, ohhh the irony – Northstars assistant coach Caitlin Larkin. Oh well, such is life. “Every once in a while I work with him, whenever we can,” said Comfort, who has known Larkin all her life since he and her father, John, are buddies. “We both have very busy schedules. Whenever we can get together, my dad and he will set something up. He’ll look at me and correct my mistakes, as well as coach (Kristin Jacobs).” Whatever they told Comfort, it worked in the fourth quarter. The score was tied at 42-42 after three quarters that saw each team go on runs before settling into a dogfight. Nottingham took a 45-42 edge on Liana Lugo’s foul shot and a bucket by Shanera Hampton, who had another big game with 19 points and nine rebounds. Gaby Bennett, who shook off a box-and-one to score 17 points, tied it with a 3-pointer. Haylee Kieffer scored on a short jumper to give Nottingham a 47-45 lead before Comfort calmly buried a 3-pointer to put Steinert ahead. The Northstars then lost the ball, and Comfort came down to hit another jumper with no hesitation. “When you’re open you have to shoot,” she said. “What else are you gonna do? I was open, I had to take the shot.” Well, OK then, can’t argue with that. Comfort said after hitting her first shot, the second one was a little easier to take. “Probably,” she said. “I knew what to do with my form, it got stuck in my head and I just took it again.” It was Comfort’s only five points of the game – and unbelievably, the last points of the game with 3:55 remaining -- but she followed that up by dribbling through the Northstars press. Steinert's Gaby Bennett launches one of her three 3-pointers over Kelsey “It’s been a trend for her,” Jacobs said. Ignace in the fourth quarter today. Bennett scored 17 despite a box-and“She goes out there and plays hard every one defense one her (Photo by Amanda Ruch/[email protected]). minute she’s out there. She skies for rebounds, she’s tenacious as a defender and she’s just learning how to settle down and do the right things.” “She’s amazing,” Bennett said. “She really stepped up today.” With both teams stuck in a scoring drought after Comfort’s mini-explosion, Nottingham had a chance to tie it with 11 seconds left. But a play that was designed to be a 3-point shot never developed as Nottingham took a 2-pointer as time ran out. “It should never come down to the last play,” Nottingham coach Lauren “The Daredevil” Kelly said. “But you miss foul shots, you miss lay-ups and you miss other shots, it comes down to the last play. When the game is on the line you have to execute the play and we didn’t.” Kelly was hoping to get Hampton open for a shot, but she never got the ball. “We were trying to get up on her so they couldn’t shoot any threes,” Bennett said. Nottingham was trying to get up on Bennett as well with their box-andone. To her credit, she picked her spots, did not force the issue and shot a slick 7-for-11. “She got her looks,” Kelly said. “I don’t think she got many of them, but when she got them she capitalized on them. That’s the sign of a good player.” Bennett said it was the first box-andone she has seen since Robbinsville played one on Jan. 6. With the way she has been scoring, she may start seeing more. “She’s still gonna get them,” Jacobs said. “But when her and Mariah (“Carey” Greco) are in a good flow together in their offense sometimes they can be unstoppable. We just have to make the right adjustments and making sure we’re doing the Tatiana Dorner gets off a 3-pointer over Liana Lugo while crouching Nottingham coach Lauren "The Daredevil" Kelly watches intently (Photo by right things.” Amanda Ruch/[email protected]). Nottingham was doing all the right things early in the second quarter when it scored eight straight for a 20-10 lead. Steinert responded with 20 straight, as Bennett scored eight and Tatiana Dorner had seven in the binge. The Northstars kept plugging away and got it even after three quarters. But Steinert managed to pull it out during the low-scoring fourth quarter. Greco finished with eight points and six rebounds, while Briana Dorner and Madison Balke each had four points and seven rebounds. Nottingham was led by Hampton, Shaunice Palms (14 points, 10 rebounds) and Kieffer (8 points, 14 rebounds) “Nottingham is not a bad team, they are getting it together,” Jacobs said. “They have players that work hard, work well together and can score the basketball. I just thought defensively our halfcourt defense didn’t live up to snuff at some points of the game.” But it came through in the end when Nottingham was trying to tie it. But Kelly wasn’t going to dwell on those final seconds. “When you have a three-point loss, you can look back at every single possession,” the Daredevil said. “You can look at this turnover or that missed shot. You can’t just look at the last play. “This was a Hamilton Township rivalry game. There will always be a lot of emotion and intensity. We had some bright spots. We just have to make our bright spots a little brighter.” One of those bright spots is that Kelly has a coach on her staff whose dad is a pretty good shooting coach. Oh. . .wait a minute. Follow Rich Fisher on twitter @fish4scores