Fatima claimed second place in Friday’s St. James championship game, falling 52-49 to Norwood after a tight contest.

“This was not the outcome we had hoped for, but I was pretty pleased with how the girls played,” said Coach John Fick. “We had a few possessions where we didn’t know who we were guarding, which resulted directly in points. That’s something we cannot do for good teams; can’t gift them points.”

Fatima trailed by four after the opening frame and faced a 30-25 halftime deficit. However, the Lady Comets continued to battle, finishing the game with a 46.5% shooting mark from the floor. One of the biggest differences came at the free-throw line as the Lady Comets converted 5-11.

“If we had shot 20, it may not seem like that big of a deal, but we only shot 11,” Fick offered. “So, we have to do a better job of capitalizing on those opportunities.”

In the final stanza, the Lady Comets outscored Norwood 15-12 to pull within three.

The majority of scoring came from seniors Adalyn Berhorst, who buried two three-pointers on her way to 13 points, as Alex Berhorst and Natalie Wilbers (trey) scored 11 apiece. Casey Kleffner hit a long-range bucket as well and finished with nine. “I’ve been very pleased with how she has been contributing to the offense lately,” said Fick.

Freshman Rylie Wieberg scored four in this game and averaged eight points and six rebounds during the tournament, shooting 57.5% over three games to earn a spot on the All-Tournament team.

In addition to Wieberg’s six rebounds against Norwood, Wilbers and Alex Berhorst snagged three apiece, Adalyn Berhorst added two, and Anna Struemph, Brie Massman, and Jane Boyce finished with one each.

Defensively, Alex Berhorst was busy with five steals as Kleffner pilfered two, and Wilbers had one. Wieberg also had the team’s lone block.