NORWICH – Giving up the first seven points of the contest to the visiting Yellowjackets from Oneonta, Norwich trailed early on senior night against their long-time rivals. However, it didn’t take long for the Purple Tornado to erase the Yellowjackets’ lead and control the rest of the game as they came out the victors of a 69-47 Southern Tier Athletic Conference (STAC) divisional win Wednesday night. 
With the win, Norwich clinched the regular season title for the STAC East division with one game remaining in the regular season. 
The 7-0 Oneonta run was stopped after a defensive play by the Tornado’s Taylor Hansen. Hansen came trailing down the floor after the Yellowjackets broke Norwich’s full-court press to send Danielle Basdekis’ shot attempt out of bounds. The clean block gave the home team the momentum shift they needed to pull together and go on a run of their own. 
Hansen took the ball to the rim on the next offensive possession and scored the first two points for the Tornado. Then, the pesky full-court pressuring defense of Norwich forced the Yellowjackets into the several turnovers, in which they converted at the other end of the floor by strong finishes at the basket or wide open jumpers from the outside. 
By the end of the first quarter, the Purple Tornado allowed just one point for Oneonta to close out the quarter with a 16-1 run. 
The Yellowjackets’ Taylor Microni opened up the second stanza with a 3-pointer to cut the Norwich lead down to five. However, the Tornado once again put together a big run that started with a drive and finish by Hansen. The next four possessions ended with Norwich points as Triniti Myers hit a long ball, Halea Eaton went 1-for-2 at the foul line, Hansen drained a 3-pointer from the top of the key, and Nicole Jeffrey closed the 11-2 run with a coast-to-coast layup following her steal on the defensive end.
Myers knocked down another from beyond the arc to lead all scorers at the end of the first half with eight points while Hansen had seven points and Eaton had five.
The same continued in the second half as Norwich controlled the tempo of the game, causing many miscues by the Yellowjackets while the home team produced their highest scoring quarter with 25 points scored. Those 25 points were distributed throughout the team as seven different Purple Tornado players registered a basket.
The final Norwich points in the contest were scored by Destiny Gladney on a dish from Eaton. Nearly all seniors recorded points in the game and each one received a large roaring exit as the clock began to expire.
The Purple Tornado were led by Hansen’s 16 points – a game-high – and Myers finished with 13. Abby Flynn kicked in seven points while Saige Benedict and Hailey Colabelli each had six points.
Microni and Lanie Johnson each scored nine for the Yellowjackets to lead in the scoring column.
Norwich’s junior varsity also claimed the STAC East crown with their win over Oneonta Wednesday night. Trailing by two points to start the second half, the younger Tornado team put together a strong run in the second half – mostly in the fourth quarter – to take the lead and walk away with the win. The JV team lost a single divisional game all season.
Both the varsity and junior varsity teams travel to Chenango Forks for their regular season finale. On Tuesday, February 12, both teams will play in the opening round of the STAC tournament with the varsity hosting Elmira at 6 p.m. and the JV team will travel to Elmira.