Basketball success for Comet girls

The St. Louis Comets girls basketball program this year produced five Division 1 college recruits. That included St. Louis Post-Dispatch player of the year Katie Dierdorf, who will attend University of Michigan.

In addition, several younger Comets made contributions in their first high school years.

In fact, Sarah Sullivan will be hard-pressed to top her first two years in high school. Two seasons ago, she was on the Duschesne High School varsity team that won a Missouri state championship.

Then, last season, her team was runner-up in the state tournament. The 5'4" guard described herself as a "first off the bench" reserve on that team.

About the state meets in Columbia, Sarah said, "They were exciting and nerve-wracking."

Now, the girls are back with Comets select teams for this season's play. The girls will get an early taste of national competition next month. The Comets host the "Battle by the Arch" national AAU invitational tournament June 18-20.

The Comets have five teams entered. They include one each in the 13-and-under, 15-and-under and 17-and-under. They will enter two teams in the 14-and-under bracket.

(For information about the "Battle by the Arch" meet, visit the Ozark region website at www.eteamz.com/aauozark. The Comets have a special website layer, with full tournament information.)

Twin sisters Kayla and Alyse Gordon and Courtney Champagne were three other Comets who made their high school varsity teams as freshmen. They'll be on one of the 14-and-under Comet teams in the "Battle by the Arch."

Fourteen-year-old Courtney was the starting point guard for her St. Charles West High School team. She averaged 7 points and 2.5 steals per game on a team that finished 15-10 last season.

Asked about her best basketball experience, she said it would have been playing against West's arch rival, St. Charles High. "This year, we won both games and they were both real close," the 5'5" guard said.

She said she makes up in quickness what she lacks in height. As for weaknesses, she said she needs to work on her ability to penetrate and also her 3-point shooting.

The Gordon twins were on the Mehlville High School varsity last season. Both Kayla and Alyse are 5'11" in height.

Kayla said she shared a starting forward spot at Mehlville and averaged 8 points a game.

She said she considers her defensive ability as one of her strengths. "I work hard on defense," she said. With her size, she often ends up guarding the other team's biggest player. Her biggest challenge last season: guarding a 6'5" player.

Kayla admits she needs to improve her "ball handling skills." She said, "I bounce the ball off my big feet." She wears a men's size 12 shoe.

Sister Alyse said she considers her "posting up" skills to be her strength. She averaged 7.8 points per game on the Mehlville team, which went 17-10 last season. Alyse said her shoe size is 11.

Both said their best basketball thrill came when Mehlville High won the district title.

They said they both want to play basketball in college. But, they differ on their schools of choice. Kayla said she definitely wants to go to the University of Connecticut. That team last month won its third straight NCAA women's basketball title last month.

Alyse said, "I want to play basketball in college but I don't want to go to Connecticut."

Their immediate goals on this year's Comet teams is to earn a berth in the national AAU tournaments at the end of this season. Then, it's on to next season's high school play.

As the girls look for ways to improve, they feel they have to be much stronger and quicker. All take part in some sort of weight training.

At Mehlville, the Gordon twins have a weight training class in high school. They also have a weight machine at their home.

Sarah Sullivan says she does bench presses to add strength to her shoulders and arms.

Sarah admits she'll have a big challenge to match her first two years at Duschesne High. After two state tournament runs, she said her team next year will lack size. "We lost a lot of height this year. Next year, we're going to be short."

She's hoping speed and quickness will make up some of the difference. That and lots of tournament action this year with the Comets.