Lady Tornado cruises past Indians to claim Section IV Class B championship
Keith Lanfear Photo
BINGHAMTON – After 13 long years, the Norwich Purple Tornado girls basketball team is back on top of Section IV again. The Lady Tornado defeated the Owego Indians 66-42 in the championship games Saturday evening, using a 28-point second quarter scoring rout to take down the top-seeded Indians.
During that stanza, seven different Tornado players scored points to contribute to the commanding take-over after trailing at the end of first quarter by two.
The win gave Norwich (21-1) their third Section IV title in the program’s history, the last coming during the 2005-2006 season.
Owego went on a 9-1 run to start the game, five of their points coming at the free-throw line. The Indians’ stand-out Kaci Donovan, who was coming off a 47-point performance in their win over Waverly, made four of those five.
Evee Coleman, missing from the first meeting between the two teams due to a school band trip to Orlando, scored two buckets in transition on long passes from teammate Donovan to aid in the early lead for Owego.
However, Norwich’s Saige Benedict put the defensive clamps on Coleman for the rest of the quarter and the Tornado worked their way back into the game.
The lone point for Norwich came from Triniti Myers at the free throw line as the No. 2 team displayed their nerves early in the contest. But in a matter of a few minutes with a few defensive stops, Norwich quickly shook away the jitters and began to find their offense.
Halea Eaton made the next two foul shots for Norwich and Sydney Coggins drained a 3-pointer from the left-side corner to pull the Tornado within three.
Head coach Josh Bennett quickly called a timeout following the Coggins make and pulled his girls in to say “We’re fine. Take a deep breath. They will wear down. No matter what happens, keep running, keep pushing the pace, keep the energy up and make [Owego] go at this pace for 32 minutes with us and they will tire. No one can run as long as we can.”
After the quick break in action and words from their coach, Norwich did just that.
Owego’s Anna Felice finished a penetrating attack to put her team back up by five but Eaton brought it back to three with a floater on the next Norwich possession. Teammate Taylor Hansen closed out the first quarter scoring at the foul line with one of her two attempts going through the net to make the score 11-9 in favor of Owego.
The Purple Tornado’s first lead of the game came just nine seconds into the second with Eaton knocking down a long 3 from the top of the key. Norwich’s next trip up the floor ended with a Myers 3-point field goal to put the team up by four.
Felice didn’t let the Indians go away that easy, finishing on back-to-back possessions at the rim and tying the score at 15-15.
The tie score didn’t stand for long.
Norwich’s Abby Flynn took a pass from Coggins on a cut to the hoop and scored, Emily Evans went 2-for-2 at her trip to the free throw line and Benedict scored seven points on a floater through the paint, a shot-fake, turn around 8-footer and a corner shot just outside the 3-point arc.
Briefly interrupting the Tornado run was the Indians’ Cam Kopalek with two made free throws on the possession in between Benedict’s turn around and money ball. The Norwich senior’s 3 extended the score to 26-17.
The only other Owego points scored prior to the end of the first half were by Coleman, once again receiving the dish from Donovan.
Norwich ended the quarter with yet another run, scoring the last 11 points that started with Nicole Jeffrey finding Flynn on the high-low post pass. Then after Flynn drove to the hoop and finished, Coggins sunk her second 3-pointer, Hansen banked in a 15-foot floater and Flynn made two free throws to bring the first half tally to a rest at 37-19.
Coleman and Felice combined to score eight of the first 10 points scored to open the second half, chipping away at the lead and bringing the Indians within 11 points.
Shortly after Coleman’s basket, Donovan picked up her fourth foul and it sent the Penn State bound junior to the bench with 4:58 left in the third. About 30 seconds later – during an Owego timeout – Donovan was slapped with a technical foul, giving her foul number five of the contest.
Flynn made the two freebies to give Norwich a 41-27 lead. Then Hansen delivered a pass to Jeffrey who laid the ball in and Flynn kicked the ball out to a shot-ready Coggins at the 3-point line, pushing the lead to 20 points.
Coleman cut into the deficit by going 5-for-6 at the foul line later in the third but another quick push by the Purple Tornado ended the quarter with a Jeffrey made free throw, an Evans bucket and an Eaton buzzer-beating long ball, giving Norwich the lead by 21.
Owego scored 10 points in the final eight minutes of play, which was led by senior Felice with four points. She ended the night as the Indians’ second leading scorer, tallying 13 in her final game. Coleman scored a game-high 17 in loss.
Donovan was limited to just those early free throws, scoring four for the game.
In the fourth, the Tornado’s Haley Colabelli hit a shot from long range and Ashton Wenzel went 1-for-2 at the stripe register their points in the scorebook.
Flynn led the way for Norwich, ending the night with 15 points while junior teammate Eaton tallied 12. Adding to Norwich’s balanced scoring was Coggins with eight, Benedict with seven, Myers with six, Jeffrey and Hansen each totaled five and Evans added four.
“Winning this one feels like a 500 pound gorilla is off our back,” said Bennett. Bennett has been the head coach of a few other Norwich teams that made it into the championship game, but this win is his first title at the the helm of the program.
The Purple Tornado now move into a regional final contest against the winners from Section III, South Jefferson Spartans.
The Spartans (18-3) defeated top-seeded Westhill on Friday night at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse by a final of 54-50.
The game is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at SRC Arena on the campus of Onondaga Community College in Syracuse. The winner will advance to the New York State Basketball Championships final four, held at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy later this month.
Norwich 66, Owego 42
Section IV Class B Championship
(At Floyd L. Maine Arena)
Norwich 9 28 16 13 – 66
Owego 11 8 13 10 – 42
Norwich: Destiny Gladney 0; Taylor Hansen 2 1-2-5; Sydney Coggins 3 0-0-8; Emily Evans 1 2-2-4; Abby Flynn 5 5-7-15; Halea Eaton 4 2-2-12; Ashton Wenzel 0 1-2-1; Emerson Burton 0; Hailey Colabelli 1 0-0-3; Saige Benedict 3 0-2-7; Triniti Myers 2 1-2-6; Nicole Jeffrey 2 1-2-5. TOTALS: 16 14-21-66.
Owego: Grace Doty 0; Zoe Mahon 0; Anna Felice 5 2-3-13; Ella Kopalek 0; Shannon Hefferman 0; Katie Shoen 0 0-2-0; Summer Pierce 0; Kaci Donovan 0 4-4-4; Julia Doty 0; Camryn Kopalek 1 3-4-5; Larissa Fisher 0; Evee Coleman 6 5-6-17; Chelsea Corey 0; Lauren Angelone 1 1-2-3; Jenna Bergmann 0. TOTALS: 13 15-21-42.
Fouled out: (O) Donovan. 3-point goals: (N) Coggins 2, Eaton 2, Colabelli 1, Benedict 1, Myers 1; (O) Felice 1.
During that stanza, seven different Tornado players scored points to contribute to the commanding take-over after trailing at the end of first quarter by two.
The win gave Norwich (21-1) their third Section IV title in the program’s history, the last coming during the 2005-2006 season.
Owego went on a 9-1 run to start the game, five of their points coming at the free-throw line. The Indians’ stand-out Kaci Donovan, who was coming off a 47-point performance in their win over Waverly, made four of those five.
Evee Coleman, missing from the first meeting between the two teams due to a school band trip to Orlando, scored two buckets in transition on long passes from teammate Donovan to aid in the early lead for Owego.
However, Norwich’s Saige Benedict put the defensive clamps on Coleman for the rest of the quarter and the Tornado worked their way back into the game.
The lone point for Norwich came from Triniti Myers at the free throw line as the No. 2 team displayed their nerves early in the contest. But in a matter of a few minutes with a few defensive stops, Norwich quickly shook away the jitters and began to find their offense.
Halea Eaton made the next two foul shots for Norwich and Sydney Coggins drained a 3-pointer from the left-side corner to pull the Tornado within three.
Head coach Josh Bennett quickly called a timeout following the Coggins make and pulled his girls in to say “We’re fine. Take a deep breath. They will wear down. No matter what happens, keep running, keep pushing the pace, keep the energy up and make [Owego] go at this pace for 32 minutes with us and they will tire. No one can run as long as we can.”
After the quick break in action and words from their coach, Norwich did just that.
Owego’s Anna Felice finished a penetrating attack to put her team back up by five but Eaton brought it back to three with a floater on the next Norwich possession. Teammate Taylor Hansen closed out the first quarter scoring at the foul line with one of her two attempts going through the net to make the score 11-9 in favor of Owego.
The Purple Tornado’s first lead of the game came just nine seconds into the second with Eaton knocking down a long 3 from the top of the key. Norwich’s next trip up the floor ended with a Myers 3-point field goal to put the team up by four.
Felice didn’t let the Indians go away that easy, finishing on back-to-back possessions at the rim and tying the score at 15-15.
The tie score didn’t stand for long.
Norwich’s Abby Flynn took a pass from Coggins on a cut to the hoop and scored, Emily Evans went 2-for-2 at her trip to the free throw line and Benedict scored seven points on a floater through the paint, a shot-fake, turn around 8-footer and a corner shot just outside the 3-point arc.
Briefly interrupting the Tornado run was the Indians’ Cam Kopalek with two made free throws on the possession in between Benedict’s turn around and money ball. The Norwich senior’s 3 extended the score to 26-17.
The only other Owego points scored prior to the end of the first half were by Coleman, once again receiving the dish from Donovan.
Norwich ended the quarter with yet another run, scoring the last 11 points that started with Nicole Jeffrey finding Flynn on the high-low post pass. Then after Flynn drove to the hoop and finished, Coggins sunk her second 3-pointer, Hansen banked in a 15-foot floater and Flynn made two free throws to bring the first half tally to a rest at 37-19.
Coleman and Felice combined to score eight of the first 10 points scored to open the second half, chipping away at the lead and bringing the Indians within 11 points.
Shortly after Coleman’s basket, Donovan picked up her fourth foul and it sent the Penn State bound junior to the bench with 4:58 left in the third. About 30 seconds later – during an Owego timeout – Donovan was slapped with a technical foul, giving her foul number five of the contest.
Flynn made the two freebies to give Norwich a 41-27 lead. Then Hansen delivered a pass to Jeffrey who laid the ball in and Flynn kicked the ball out to a shot-ready Coggins at the 3-point line, pushing the lead to 20 points.
Coleman cut into the deficit by going 5-for-6 at the foul line later in the third but another quick push by the Purple Tornado ended the quarter with a Jeffrey made free throw, an Evans bucket and an Eaton buzzer-beating long ball, giving Norwich the lead by 21.
Owego scored 10 points in the final eight minutes of play, which was led by senior Felice with four points. She ended the night as the Indians’ second leading scorer, tallying 13 in her final game. Coleman scored a game-high 17 in loss.
Donovan was limited to just those early free throws, scoring four for the game.
In the fourth, the Tornado’s Haley Colabelli hit a shot from long range and Ashton Wenzel went 1-for-2 at the stripe register their points in the scorebook.
Flynn led the way for Norwich, ending the night with 15 points while junior teammate Eaton tallied 12. Adding to Norwich’s balanced scoring was Coggins with eight, Benedict with seven, Myers with six, Jeffrey and Hansen each totaled five and Evans added four.
“Winning this one feels like a 500 pound gorilla is off our back,” said Bennett. Bennett has been the head coach of a few other Norwich teams that made it into the championship game, but this win is his first title at the the helm of the program.
The Purple Tornado now move into a regional final contest against the winners from Section III, South Jefferson Spartans.
The Spartans (18-3) defeated top-seeded Westhill on Friday night at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse by a final of 54-50.
The game is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at SRC Arena on the campus of Onondaga Community College in Syracuse. The winner will advance to the New York State Basketball Championships final four, held at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy later this month.
Norwich 66, Owego 42
Section IV Class B Championship
(At Floyd L. Maine Arena)
Norwich 9 28 16 13 – 66
Owego 11 8 13 10 – 42
Norwich: Destiny Gladney 0; Taylor Hansen 2 1-2-5; Sydney Coggins 3 0-0-8; Emily Evans 1 2-2-4; Abby Flynn 5 5-7-15; Halea Eaton 4 2-2-12; Ashton Wenzel 0 1-2-1; Emerson Burton 0; Hailey Colabelli 1 0-0-3; Saige Benedict 3 0-2-7; Triniti Myers 2 1-2-6; Nicole Jeffrey 2 1-2-5. TOTALS: 16 14-21-66.
Owego: Grace Doty 0; Zoe Mahon 0; Anna Felice 5 2-3-13; Ella Kopalek 0; Shannon Hefferman 0; Katie Shoen 0 0-2-0; Summer Pierce 0; Kaci Donovan 0 4-4-4; Julia Doty 0; Camryn Kopalek 1 3-4-5; Larissa Fisher 0; Evee Coleman 6 5-6-17; Chelsea Corey 0; Lauren Angelone 1 1-2-3; Jenna Bergmann 0. TOTALS: 13 15-21-42.
Fouled out: (O) Donovan. 3-point goals: (N) Coggins 2, Eaton 2, Colabelli 1, Benedict 1, Myers 1; (O) Felice 1.
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