ONEONTA – As the saying goes, it’s hard to beat the same team three times in the same season. The Norwich Lady Purple Tornado proved that saying to to be true Wednesday night when they knocked the top-seeded Oneonta Yellowjackets out of the Section IV postseason with a 55-50 victory.
With the lead changing hands between Norwich and Oneonta several times in the final eight minutes of play, it was the Tornado’s four straight offensive possessions with a 3-point bucket that ultimately pulled the team ahead late in the game.
Known for how well they can shoot behind the arc, Norwich started the game off ice cold from long-range. Senior forward Abby Flynn made the Tornado’s first and only 3-point field goal of the first half.
A little hesitant for a while after a considerable number of missed attempts, Norwich’s Sydney Coggins, Margaret Dougher and MacKenzie Hess finally found their shot.
In the fourth quarter, Coggins knocked down the first of four in a row by the Lady Purple Tornado. Her made basket cut Oneonta’s lead down to three with 4:20 left in the ball game.
The Yellowjackets’ Ava Eichler picked up two points at the rim after Laine Johnson found her teammate near the rim to put Oneonta back up by five points.
The next six points scored in the game came from the shooting hand of Dougher, hitting deep shots on back-to-back possessions to give Norwich a 44-43 lead with 3:25 left.
Oneonta’s Yuliah Johnson put the lead in favor of her team with a driving finish at the hoop, but Hess followed in her teammate’s footsteps, hitting a 3-pointer own to put the Tornado ahead by one points.
Hess, the shortest girl on the floor at the time, then drove straight through the Yellowjackets’ tall defense to get to the rim. Making the layup, the Norwich sophomore was fouled on the play and went to the line for a free throw attempt. Sinking the free shot, the Tornado went ahead 50-46 with less than two minutes remaining in the semifinal contest.
Laine Johnson went to the line for two shots at the charity stripe after the fifth and final foul was called on Norwich’s Abby Flynn, sending her to the bench for the rest of the game. The Oneonta forward made both attempts to cut the lead down to four points.
Emily Evans of the Tornado filled the roll of Flynn in the middle of Norwich’s offense. Breaking down the 2-3 zone defense the Yellowjackets were playing was Emerson Burton. After catching a short-corner pass from one of her colleagues, Burton then looked to the middle. That is where she found Evans cutting hard to the rim.
Burton dished to Evans on the slash to hoop and Evans caught the ball and released a close range shot attempt that went off the backboard and through the net. At the same time, the official called a foul, sending the Norwich forward to the line for the old-fashioned three point play.
Evans made the free throw to make it 53-50, or a two possession game with 1:02 left.
A 3-point attempt by Oneonta’s Eichler went half way down but bounced out with less than a minute to play and the home team was forced to foul Norwich to stop the clock. The Tornado’s Hess draining two more freebies to put her team ahead 55-50.
The Yellowjackets had a few opportunities to cut the Norwich lead but turnovers on three consecutive possessions ended the top-seeded team’s chances.
Early in the game, the Tornado’s Flynn was in full control of the offense with six of her team’s first quarter points. In the second, the Norwich senior tallied all but two of the 10 scored – including the team’s only 3-pointer of the first half.
Whether it was coming away with points at a time when the Purple Tornado needed it most or causing disruption to the Oneonta offense, Flynn was somewhere near the ball.
That was until she fouled out of the game. Then it was fellow senior Burton who was rattling the Yellowjackets’ players. Burton provided valuable minutes off the bench by causing several of Oneonta’s late-game turnovers.
Flynn finished the game as the leading scorer, registering 18 points, but it was her hustle that was on full display throughout the Norwich win. Following the game, Flynn only had one thing to say about her play. “It was a great team win,” she said.
The second quarter wasn’t so much a battle between the long-time rivals as it was the Flynn-Anika Buzzy showdown.
While Flynn scored eight points, Oneonta’s Buzzy recorded all 11 points for her team in the stanza. Buzzy left for a few minutes in the fourth quarter with an ankle injury but returned to the action after a minute break.
The Yellowjackets’ senior ended the night with 14 points and 14 rebounds. Teammate Hannah Johnson tied the team-best point total of 14 points while Eichler had 13 points.
Hess came away with 15 points in the win and Evans chipped in nine. Dougher totaled eight for the Purple Tornado.
Norwich will look to defend their sectional title when take on Newark Valley, the three-seed in the Class B tournament, at the Floyd L. Maines Veterans Arena for the Section IV Championship Sunday afternoon.
Newark Valley defeated Owego 52-49 Wednesday in the other semifinal matchup that was played at Owego.
A year ago, the Purple Tornado topped Owego in the championship with a convincing win. Norwich will be looking to make it two straight Section IV titles when they tip-off against Newark Valley at 4:45 p.m. Sunday.