Fatima ended the regular season with a pair of wins, starting with a 60-49 victory on Tuesday over state-ranked Southern Boone on the road.

“I genuinely feel like this was our first complete game of the season, from top to bottom,” said Coach Matt Baker. “Our kids were focused and battled for 32 minutes, and the result was a well-deserved win. Our game plan going in was to play man; however, some tough calls put two starters in early foul trouble, and we had to switch to zone. Despite having played hardly any zone since Christmas, our zones really threw SoBoCo out of rhythm, and we rebounded extremely well.”

Fatima shot well, converting 53.5% overall from the floor while hitting five treys and going 9-13 at the line. Henry Robertson went 4-4 late from the stripe to help secure the win; he finished with nine points. He also had a team-high seven assists.

Individually, Xavier “Chet” Stuecken was an offensive force, with a three-pointer and a 2-3 mark at the FT line resulting in 21 points. Evan Klouzek drained three three-pointers and posted 15. “We also got a great game from Devin Luebbert, who was great on the offensive glass,” said Baker.

Blake Kliethermes (3-4 FT) posted 11 points, as Luebbert put in four.

Leading 31-28 at halftime, the Comets built up the lead with a 17-14 edge in the third, and a 12-8 advantage in the final quarter.

Stuecken and Luebbert grabbed seven rebounds apiece to lead the team, followed by Kliethermes and Klouzek (5 each), Robertson and Stuecken (3 apiece), and Bryce Wieberg (1).

Defensively, Stuecken counted two blocks, Kliethermes had two steals and a block, and Klouzek posted one of each.

On Friday, the Comets finished the regular season with a 77-65 win over Cuba.

Stuecken and Klouzek paced the team with 28 and 20 points, respectively. Blake also had another solid night, chipping in 19 points.

“Although we made a few mistakes on the defensive end of the floor, our offense was able to keep pace, and at one point we pushed out to a 20-point lead late in the third quarter,” said Baker.

Fatima led by six early in a game that saw the Comets shoot 62.2% overall. At the break, the Blue & Gold lead was 32-26, and Fatima never looked back.

From the outside, the Comets hit 8-18 and went 13-19 at the charity stripe.

Stuecken led the way with 28 points, including a 6-9 performance at the line, while Klouzek (5-10 trey) added 20, and Kliethermes (2 treys, 3-3 FT) put in 19. Luebbert and Wieberg (trey) finished with five points apiece. Kliethermes and Wieberg shared the assists lead with four each.

On the glass, Kliethermes led with nine rebounds, and Stuecken grabbed six, followed by Klouzek and Luebbert, with five apiece, and Wieberg with two.

In the steals department, Stuecken claimed four, Kliethermes and Robertson pilfered three apiece, and Wieberg and Klouzek each had one. Stuecken, Kliethermes, and Klouzek also counted a block each.

“All in all, I felt like we took a nice step forward this week and our boys are starting to really embrace their roles on the team,” said Baker. “Hopefully, the focus and effort continue at districts.”