Tornado girls suffer tough loss to defending State Champions
CONKLIN – Norwich’s road to the Sectional Championship took a turn for the worse last night as they succumbed to a defeat against one of their main rivals and competitors for the title, Susquehanna Valley, on a score line of 67-52. SV are the defending Class B State Champions.
“Overall, it was a nightmare game for us. Everything that could go wring, went wrong,” said Tornado head coach Josh Bennett. “We have to play our best against the best and tonight was definitely not our best.”
Down by as many as 20 points midway through the third quarter, things began to look grim for the Tornado. “We just said to the girls that we have to go for broke,” said Bennett. “We put on our own press and started to make them (SV) uncomfortable on offense. They started to get passive and tentative and we got right back into the game.”
Led by their top scorer on the night, Makenzie Maynard, Norwich brought the deficit down to just five points in the fourth quarter. Maynard had nine of her 17 points in the quarter.
“To be honest, I think my kids ran out of gas,” said Bennett. “SV kind of ‘righted the ship’ defensively and once again we got ourselves in a situation where we didn’t value the ball for a short stint. That turned the tables on us.”
In the end, SV closed out the game well and finished up winning by a comfortable margin. They were led by Shayna Lee and Erin Nolan, who shared the spoils with 16 points apiece.
Despite the loss, Bennett was still full of praise for his team, “I think the kids showed a lot of character. To go down by 20 to the defending state champions, on their home court, it would have been easy for them to pack it in, but they never did that. They never gave in, they battled and we got things turned in our favor but we just didn’t have enough plays left in us to finish the game.”
Norwich now falls to a record of 9-4 on the season. They must win the remainder of their games for a shot at the Sectional Title. Their quest continues next Saturday against Chenango Forks in Norwich at 1:30 p.m.
Norwich: Sherman, 0; T. Hansen, 1 2-4-4; Mirabito, 0; K. Dowdall, 0; K. Evans, 1 2-4-4; K. Seary, 3 0-0-6; M. Maynard, 7 2-3-17; M. Komendarek, 3 3-6-9;B. Murphy, 3 0-0-6; S. Benjamin, 1 4-5-6.
Totals: 19 13-22 – 52.
SV: Holly Manchester 2 0-0-4; Courtney Knapp, 1 2-2-5; Shayna Lee, 7 0-0-16; Hannah Haskell, 3 2-2-9; Caitlin Knapp, 6 1-3-13; Olivia Gorman, 2 0-0-4; Erin Nolan, 5 6-9-16.
Totals: 26 11-16 – 67.
Nor: 11 14 11 16 – 52
SV: 17 17 14 19 – 67
Three-point goals: (SV) Lee 2, C. Knapp, H. Haskell. (N) Maynard.
“Overall, it was a nightmare game for us. Everything that could go wring, went wrong,” said Tornado head coach Josh Bennett. “We have to play our best against the best and tonight was definitely not our best.”
Down by as many as 20 points midway through the third quarter, things began to look grim for the Tornado. “We just said to the girls that we have to go for broke,” said Bennett. “We put on our own press and started to make them (SV) uncomfortable on offense. They started to get passive and tentative and we got right back into the game.”
Led by their top scorer on the night, Makenzie Maynard, Norwich brought the deficit down to just five points in the fourth quarter. Maynard had nine of her 17 points in the quarter.
“To be honest, I think my kids ran out of gas,” said Bennett. “SV kind of ‘righted the ship’ defensively and once again we got ourselves in a situation where we didn’t value the ball for a short stint. That turned the tables on us.”
In the end, SV closed out the game well and finished up winning by a comfortable margin. They were led by Shayna Lee and Erin Nolan, who shared the spoils with 16 points apiece.
Despite the loss, Bennett was still full of praise for his team, “I think the kids showed a lot of character. To go down by 20 to the defending state champions, on their home court, it would have been easy for them to pack it in, but they never did that. They never gave in, they battled and we got things turned in our favor but we just didn’t have enough plays left in us to finish the game.”
Norwich now falls to a record of 9-4 on the season. They must win the remainder of their games for a shot at the Sectional Title. Their quest continues next Saturday against Chenango Forks in Norwich at 1:30 p.m.
Norwich: Sherman, 0; T. Hansen, 1 2-4-4; Mirabito, 0; K. Dowdall, 0; K. Evans, 1 2-4-4; K. Seary, 3 0-0-6; M. Maynard, 7 2-3-17; M. Komendarek, 3 3-6-9;B. Murphy, 3 0-0-6; S. Benjamin, 1 4-5-6.
Totals: 19 13-22 – 52.
SV: Holly Manchester 2 0-0-4; Courtney Knapp, 1 2-2-5; Shayna Lee, 7 0-0-16; Hannah Haskell, 3 2-2-9; Caitlin Knapp, 6 1-3-13; Olivia Gorman, 2 0-0-4; Erin Nolan, 5 6-9-16.
Totals: 26 11-16 – 67.
Nor: 11 14 11 16 – 52
SV: 17 17 14 19 – 67
Three-point goals: (SV) Lee 2, C. Knapp, H. Haskell. (N) Maynard.
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