Girls’ Basketball

Norwich 55, Chenango Forks 37
NORWICH – Section IV finalists the previous two seasons, Norwich (11-7) moved one win from a third straight finals appearance beating Chenango Forks for the third time this season Tuesday night in Class B tournament play.
NHS’s Breanna Cashman had 17 points and eight rebounds, Jenni Borfitz scored 11 and dished out five assists, and freshman Shelby Benjamin scored 10, pulled down 14 rebounds, and had a team-high five steals.
Norwich created an 18-point halftime advantage with torrid inside/outside shooting. Borfitz hit a three for NHS to open the scoring, and Benjamin had three inside hoops lifting Norwich to a 17-8 lead after one period.
Cashman caught fire in the second period hitting for eight points, and Cassie Sutton’s layup with under 10 seconds to play gave the Tornado a 31-13 halftime lead.
Chenango Forks’ offense was limited to primarily outside shots, and senior Ashley Williams cashed in six times on three-pointers on her way to a game-high 20 points. However, those three-pointers provided the bulk of the Blue Devils’ offense against a stingy NHS defense. One of those outside shots in the first half, a three from Michaela Transue, pushed Transue over the 1,000-point mark for her career at Forks.
Norwich plays Seton Catholic Central or Whitney Point on Friday.
Chenango Forks: Taylor Gibbore, 0; Megan Plahanski, 0; Kerry Heller, 0; Alex Yoest, 1 0-0-3; Rachel Burns, 0; Michaela Transue, 5 0-0-11; Ashley Williams, 6 2-4-20; Krysta Shannon, 0; Jessica Redfern, 1 1-1-3. Totals: 13 3-5-37.
NHS: Lexi Race, 0; Carin Kuhn, 2 0-0-4; Caitlyn Brown, 2 0-0-4; Breanna Cashman, 6 5-7-17; Ashley Campbell, 0; Jennifer Borfitz, 4 2-2-11; Cassie Sutton, 3 0-0-7; Shelby Benjamin, 5 0-2-10; Taylor Cook, 1 0-0-2; Courtney Scheer, 0. Totals: 23 7-11-55.
CForks 8 5 12 12–37
Norw. 17 14 13 11–55
Fouled out: none. Three-point goals: (CF) Williams 6, Transue, Yoest, (N) Borfitz, Sutton. Officials: Linehan, Berg.

B-G 51, Groton 40
GROTON – Bainbridge-Guilford stormed out of the gate to start the second half building a 17-point lead in a first-round sectional playoff win Tuesday night at Groton.
Taylor Palmatier hit two three-pointers in a row against the Groton zone, and Morgan Bullis had 11 of her 22 points. Bullis added 19 rebounds, and point guard Abbey Smith compiled 15 points, six steals, and five assists.
“They played man defense against us in the first half, and when they went to a zone, I think it gave us a little confidence and some comfort,” said B-G coach Bob Conway. “Those two threes from Taylor were big, and Morgan just tore them up on the boards.”
B-G, who started the season 1-5 play at second-seeded Elmira Notre Dame Friday. “It will be tough going to Elmira, but this was a sectional win,” Conway said. “For this group, that is huge, and it’s a big building block for next year.”
B-G: Taylor Lamont, 0; Abbey Smith, 6 3-4-15; Capucine Marzet, ; Morgan Bullis, 7 8-14-22; Alexis Page, 0; Megan Ferrara, 1 1-2-3; Taylor Palmatier, 2 4-6-10; Cadi Barber, 0; Tori Rifanburg, 0 1-3-1; Betsy Holden, 0. Totals: 16 17-29-51.
Groton: Alex Quarella, 1 0-0-2; Jenna Dorsey, 2 0-0-4; Ruthann Forehand, 3 2-7-9; Tiffany James, 2 0-0-4; Kauleen Hall, 3 5-6-11; Stephanie Preston, 2 2-2-6; Jenna Zimmer, 1 2-2-4; Toalas; 14 11-17-40
B-G 8 10 23 10–51
Grot 8 7 9 16–40
Fouled out: (G) Quarrella, James. Three-point goals: (BG) Palmatier 2, (G) Forehand

Cazenovia 47, Sherburne-Earlville 45
CAZENOVIA – An S-E shot from the foul line to tie the game with less than five seconds remaining was off the mark as the Marauders were eliminated from the Section III playoffs Tuesday.
Winners over Cazenovia earlier this season, S-E (15-5) made up a seven-point deficit in the second half to take a two-point lead after a Lilly Berg basket late in the game. The Lakers tied the contest on Maggie Carpenter’s bucket, and Caitlin Gerber scored the go-head – and winning – basket.
“It’s certainly disappointing for us,” said S-E coach Karen Mulligan. “We had a lot of good looks in the fourth quarter that were falling in earlier games, and they didn’t go down.”
The Marauders scored 70 points in the two clubs’ previous meeting at the Unadilla Valley Tournament. This time around, S-E was held 15 points below its season average. “They did a much better job getting out to our shooters, and we really had a hard time getting into a flow offensively,” Mulligan said.
Mikayla Solloway had eight points in the third quarter bringing S-E back into the game, and her 12 points were matched by Savannah Irwin’s dozen markers. Berg added 11 points in the defeat.
Irwin hit two three-pointers in the game to finish with 50 on the season. Irwin tied the single-season three-point mark set by Brenda Mulligan during the 1999-2000 season.
S-E: Mikayla Solloway, 5 2-4-12; Jordan Van Althuis, 1 2-3-5; Bridgette McDaniel, 0; Savannah Irwin, 4 2-2-12; Kelsie Christian, 1 0-0-2; Lilly Berg, 4 3-4-11; Mattie Dowdall, 1 0-0-3. Totals: 16 9-13-45.
Cazenovia: Taylor Mims, 0; Kelsey Fredericks, 0 2-2-2; Aubrey Burbridge, 7 0-1-21; Abby McEntee, ; Dana Kiselica, 0; Maggie Carpenter, 5 3-4-13 ;Caitlin Gerber, 3 0-0-6; Lizzy Bigsby, 0 0-1-0; Maggie Johnson, 2 1-4-5. Totals: 17 6-12-47
S-E 16 8 14 7–45
Caz 15 15 11 6–47
Fouled out: (SE) Solloway. Three-point goals: (C) Burbridge 7. (S-E) Irwin 2, Van Althuis, Dowdall.

Newfield 46, Greene 40
Greene: Tiffany Borst, 1 1-2-3, Sierra Stoppkotte, 0 0-1-0; Paige Castle, 0 0-0-0, Jessica David 4 0-2-8, Kaitlin Gorton, 3 2-6-8, Rebecca Smith 7 3-4 19; Katie Carey, 1 0-1-2. Totals 16 6-15-40.
Newfield: Mryah Byrd 0 0-0 0, Erica Carney, 10 3-5 26, Angelina Ferrara, 0 0-0 0, Asja Moynihan, 0 1-2 1, Megan Pakkala, 4 2-3 13, Kiersten Sinn, 0 1-3 1, Lindsey Wood, 0 0-0 0, Rebecca Wood, 2 1-2 5. Totals 16 8-14-46.
Gre. 11 13 6 10–40
Newf 14 4 8 20-46
Three-point goals: (N) Carney 3, Pakkala 3, (G) Smith 2.