Monday, Feb. 6 was a slow sports night. I was asked earlier in the day if I was driving over to Oneonta to watch Norwich’s girls play the Yellowjackets. Initially, I told that person no, but after reviewing my schedule, it was the “only game” on the docket. Why not make the 30-mile trip? Norwich was playing for a share of the STAC Central Division title, so this was the definition of a must-win game.
I arrived at the game shortly before halftime with Oneonta clinging to a 14-12 lead. I thought that perhaps the junior varsity game was running late. Surely this wasn’t the two-quarter score of two varsity teams that were recently ranked among the state’s top 20 Class B teams. It was, indeed, the halftime score.
After consuming my obligatory halftime treat, I nestled into my seat for the second half. The two clubs traded leads several times . Norwich senior Bryn Loomis hit back-to-back three-pointers, and Norwich led by as many as four points in the third quarter. Oneonta’s super sophomore, Mariah Ruff, brought her club back with an array of difficult finishes around the basket. Ruff was held scoreless in the first half – probably a first for the newly-minted 1,000-point career scorer – but had a half-dozen points in each of the final two quarters.
Ruff, and teammate Kelsey Baker, carried the Oneonta offense, and the defense held Norwich’s to its season-low point total – 27. Down the stretch, Oneonta expanded its final margin of victory to eight points hitting 9-of-10 free throws over the last three-plus minutes. Norwich, for its part, could not buy a bucket. Late in the game, with Norwich’s frustration mounting, an apparent two-point layup from NHS sophomore Jennifer Borfitz was waved off by the official, who cited Borfitz with a traveling violation. I do not have the video evidence to review the call, but suffice to say, that official’s decision did not determine the outcome of the game. Norwich’s inability to put the ball in the basket the last 3 1/2 minutes was the reason it lost the game. In my write-up that appeared in Tuesday’s sports section, that point was conveyed early in the article.
I was not the only media on site.
Oneonta’s hometown paper also covered the game. I like to “compare notes” so to speak, and the Oneonta-based paper gave an accurate account of the game play. The story also interjected an eight-paragraph description of tempers flaring on the Norwich bench. A technical foul was called on the Norwich bench late shortly after Borftiz’s layup was disallowed. Oneonta’s Ruff converted those two freebies as OHS retained possession of the ball.. Did those points really matter? No. Oneonta already had possession of the ball before the technical, and Norwich was in foul mode to stop the clock. With about 16 seconds remaining, Oneonta was tacking on free throws to widen the gap in a victory that was essentially clinched. Based on Norwich’s paltry offensive numbers, we were not about to see a redux of retired NBA player Reggie Miller scoring eight points against the New York Knicks in about 10 seconds.
