BINGHAMTON – The Norwich girls basketball repeated as sectional champions, something that hasn’t been achieved in program history.
Sunday evening gave Norwich’s wild journey of the 2019-2020 season a twist of positivity with a second straight Section IV Class B championship as the Lady Tornado took down previously undefeated Newark Valley 58-46 at the Floyd L. Maines Veterans Memorial Arena.
“No one understands what this group has been through,” said Norwich head coach Josh Bennett following his second title at the helm of the program. “We have just been through so much this season and I’m extremely proud of what these girls have accomplished.”
Tornado senior Abby Flynn added, “I said before the game that we just need to trust each other. We wanted communication, one through five on the court and one through 13 off the floor. And I think we showed that throughout the game.”
What the Tornado squad is known for – and have been for quite sometime now – in the hard-nosed, full-court pressure defense that is relentless game in and game out. The aggressive, 94-feet of defense is going to take a toll on any team. Throw in the much larger floor of the arena and it’s no question Norwich had the advantage throughout the contest.
“Late in the third, when we pushed the lead to nine points, [Newark Valley] called a timeout,” recalled Bennett. “When my girls game over, I said, ‘They are gassed right now. What we need to worry about doing is keeping our effort at the level we are at and continuing to make them go.’”
The Purple Tornado defense forced the third-seeded Newark Valley Cardinals to turn the ball over a total of of 47 times – in a game where both teams combined for 71 – which resulted in 20 of their 58 points coming off of the Cardinals miscues in transition.
Adding to the recipe that emerged into the 12-point victory for Norwich was the on-the-mark outside shooting from junior guard Sydney Coggins. Finishing with a game-high 19 points was Coggins, who went 4-for-9 from behind the 3-point at – an area where the junior has struggled of recent.
“I decided before the game the game that today was going to be my day,” said the Tornado junior. “I walked out on the to floor and said to myself, ‘I’m going to knock this shot down.’ My mentality going into the game helped myself which helped our team get off to a strong start.”
Norwich never trailed, but unlike their win from a season ago where they held a double-digit lead for most of the game, the tenacious girls team didn’t take a double-digit lead until the fourth quarter.
Newark Valley, however, hung around despite the hefty amount of turnovers, nearly answering every run the Tornado went on to keep the game within reach for the Interscholastic Athletic Conference group.
The game’s scoring started with a three from sophomore Margaret Dougher, who registered Norwich’s first five points, after just 35 seconds ticked off the clock.
The Tornado then took a 12-5 advantage midway through the first stanza after Flynn rebounded her own missed free throw attempt and put the ball up through the rim for her first points of the game. Coggins then tallied the next five points after coming away with a steal in the full-court defense and draining her first 3-point field goals.
Newark Valley’s Mackenna Nechwedowich said not so fast as she led the first of many comebacks.
The Cardinals’ junior completed the old-fashioned three-point play before teammate Taylor Benjamin knocked down a free throw and Hannah Ferguson came away with a steal and the finish to pull their team within one point with 1:43 left to play in the first quarter.
Ending the quick scoring spurt by Newark Valley was Coggins, sinking her second from long-range to give her team a four-point cushion. The two teams exchanged baskets in the closing seconds of the first to keep the lead at four for the Tornado to start the second quarter.
The next eight minutes of play saw the Cardinals cut the deficit down to two on a couple of different occasions but Norwich’s offense was sparked by Coggins’ third 3-pointer of the game as they went on 10-point spurt before the end of the first half.
Allie Wandell’s two buckets and a Bri Beebe 3-point field goal aided in Newark Valley’s little run during the final minute to send to the two teams into the intermission with a score of 31-26.
To open the second half of action, the Lady Purple Tornado jumped ahead by nine after a 7-3 run, but the Cardinals’ Wandell made four straight free throws while eighth-grader Cha Gardner added a layup and a free throw to make it a two-point game.
Coggins answered.
Swishing her fourth and final 3-point bucket through the net before following it up with a steal that converted into pull-up jumper and another two points for the junior, pushing the lead to 43-36 with the final eight minutes left to play.
After playing a 2-3 zone defense for the large part of the contest, Newark Valley started the fourth quarter in man-to man. With her strong ability to attack the rim from the high-post area, Flynn quickly got downhill to the rim and finished a left-handed layup to give the game a nine-point spread once agin.
Beebe and Allison Walker chipped away at the Cardinals deficit, bring the game to 45-39 score with 6:50 to play.
Flynn answered three straight free throws then followed with a kick-out pass to Dougher, who knocked down a jumper to make it a double figure margin with 5:24 left in the contest.
Both teams went cold for a substantial time but Newark Valley’s Wandell scored at 2:07 to make it a seven point game.
Coggins made a free throw and Emily Evans kicked in basket on the inside to put the score at 53-43 with a minute to go. Flynn and Mackenzie Hess then combined to go 5-for-6 at the charity stripe in the final minute to put the game away for good.
Beebe hit yet another 3-pointer in the late-game attempt to get something going for her team but it wasn’t enough with the time remaining.
The stiff team-defense of the Purple Tornado held the the Cardinals’ Nechwedowich to just five points – well below her season average in points per game.
Wandell and Beebe paced the Newark Valley in the scoring column as the two finished with 14 and 12 points, respectively.
Flynn ended the contest with a double-double, putting 15 on the scoreboard for Norwich and coming down with 11 rebounds.
As for other Tornado scorers, Dougher had nine while Evans came away with seven. Hess chipped in five and Emerson Burton, who provided valuable minutes of the bench by disrupting Newark Valley’s offense, added three.
Now Norwich will have another go at second-ranked South Jefferson of Section III in the regional final Sunday at 4:45 p.m. on the Arena floor once again.
South Jefferson ended the Purple Tornado’s run last season in the matchup at SRC Arena in Syracuse to punch their ticket to the New York State Championship tournament.