Lucy Oetting played as if she wasn’t ready for her basketball career to end.

Newman’s lone senior came through with 24 points and 12 rebounds in the Comets’ 66-41 win over Bureau Valley on Friday night to win the Class 1A Galva Regional title. It is Newman’s first regional title since 2009.

The Comets, ranked No. 10 in the final 1A Associated Press poll, advance to face Galena in Tuesday’s Eastland Sectional semifinal at 7:30. Galena upset River ridge/Scales Mound 37-31 to advance.

Newman took control against the Storm with a 24-7 run in the second quarter as Oetting and Gisselle Martin (19 points) combined for 20 points in the frame.

Oetting’s 24 points were just one short of her career high. She stepped up offensively after just two points in the semifinal win over Stark County.

“This game, I think there was just something about it being the championship game,” she said. “It could have been my last game. They’re a great team. We played a great game and altogether our team played well.”

The first quarter was back and forth as Newman led 16-15 after one. Then, the Comets (25-6) started to roll.

Newman took a 40-22 lead into halftime and never looked back. The Storm finished at 23-10, just one short of tying the program-high.

Oetting said the Comets stepped up in the second quarter after seeing how close the score was early on.

“We knew going into it that they weren’t going to give up,” she said, “and they’re going to go hard.”

BV started to pick at the deficit in the third quarter as Libby Endress scored nine of her 13 points, but the Comets continued to answer. Emily Wright led BV with 14 points but no one else scored more than six.

Oetting had six more points in the fourth quarter to help close things out.

“One thing about Lucy, she’s about as competitive as I am,” Newman coach Herb Martin said. “She really wants to win.”

Martin said his otherwise young team settled in during the second quarter. He said defense will be key if the team wants to make a postseason run. Winning a regional title is a big step in the right direction as the Comets won their first postseason hardware since 2009 under Jay Howell.

“Bureau Valley is a very good team. They’re well-coached, well-organized, they know their stuff and they play hard,” Martin said. “I kept telling my girls, do not look at the scoreboard and do not think that those girls are going to quit. Those girls will play hard until the final buzzer, and they did.”

Gisselle Martin said it means a lot to win a regional title.

“We put in work every single day at practice. We go at each other a lot,” she said. “I’m really happy that we made it to this point and won.”

Gisselle said the team wanted to win it for Oetting, too.

“We promised her at the beginning of the year that we were going to win all these games just for her, because she’s our only senior this year,” Gisselle said. “We wanted her to leave high school with a meaningful memory of playing basketball.”

BV coach Jon Henegar said the Comets turned up the pressure in the second quarter. The Storm finished with 16 turnovers while Newman had 13.

Newman’s full-court press also led to some easy baskets in transition. Elaina Allen had six points, Veronica Haley had eight and Anna Propheter had five. Aubrey Devine had two late baskets as both teams brought in the reserves.

“They’re a very good defensive team,” Henegar said. “[They] play physical, aggressive, man-to-man defense. The first quarter, we handled it pretty well for the most part. In the second quarter, we just had a few turnovers.

“That was a big run that kind of made it difficult to come back from.”

Henegar told his team it was still a successful season after getting 10 more wins than last year.

“Personally, this is my favorite season coaching since I’ve started coaching basketball, and it was because of them and who they are,” he said. “All 11 players are just great, great kids. Great, great people. Myself and the coaching staff had a lot of fun.”