Girls’ Basketball
Norwich 55, Chenango Valley 45
NORWICH – Norwich found its balance on offense, and combined that with scrappy defensive play to earn its first win of the season here Thursday evening.
Jenni Borfiz scored 13 points for NHS (1-1) to lead the way, Breanna Cashman added 11, while Carin Kuhn scored nine, and Caitlyn Brown had eight off the bench.
The Purple Tornado’s frenetic defense forced the Warriors into 24 turnovers, and rarely did the visiting club get into a rhythm on offense. The Warriors, too, never led in the game tying it once – at four apiece 3 1/2 minutes into the game.
While NHS led throughout the game, the final margin of victory was Norwich’s second largest of the game. Borfitz hit a three and Kassidy Seary scored on a layup at the end of the third quarter to make it a 39-30 game.
The momentum at the end of the third carried into the fourth. Brown canned a three, Borfitz completed a traditional three-point play, and Kuhn hit two free throws at the 5:19 mark to give Norwich a 47-35 lead.
CV got it back to within six points with under two minutes to play as Hannah Elliott hit a three, followed that with a bucket in the lane, and teammate Dani Forbidussi scored five points in a row, the last three coming on a wide-open trifecta closing the gap to 51-45.
That rally was quickly quelled by the cool hand of Breanna Cashman, who buried a jumper from the left baseline with 50 seconds left. Borfitz tacked on a pair of free throws late to sew up the victory.
Norwich’s JV team improved to 2-0 with a 46-31 victory. Carrie Sheldon led the Tornado with 13 points.
Norwich is idle until next Friday when it plays in the first round of the Norwich Pennysaver Tournament.
CV: Maggie Gross, 0; Maddie Staiger, 3 3-4-9; Dani Forbidussi, 3 0-1-7; Jennifer Kipp, 0; Olivia Trumino, 0; Emily Hammond, 2 0-1-4; Chelsea Henige, 1 4-6-6; Hannah Elliott, 6 4-6-17; Ashleigh Weir, 1 0-0-2. Totals: 16 11-18-45.
Norwich: Carin Kuhn, 2 4-7-9; Caitlyn Brown, 3 0-0-8; Breanna Cashman, 5 0-1-11; Alexis Race, 1 0-0-2; Jennifer Borfitz, 3 6-7-13; Kassidy Seary, 1 0-0-2; Makenzie Maynard, 0; Meghan Komendarek, 2 2-4-6; Savannah Williams, 1 0-0-2; Shelby Benjamin, 0 2-4-2; Courtney Scheer, 0. Totals: 18 14-23-55.
CV 8 10 12 15–45
NHS10 14 15 16––55
Fouled out: none. Three-point goals: (N) Brown 2, Cashman, Kuhn, Borfitz; (CV) Forbidussi, Elliott. JV: Norwich won 46-31. Officials: Collier, Haynes.
Sherburne-Earlville 66, Cooperstown 37
SHERBURNE – Sherburne-Earlville’s third game in four days had an inauspicious beginning.
The Marauders overcame a 13-2 deficit in the first quarter blowing out Cooperstown the rest of the way to improve to 3-0 on the season.
“We switched to a man-to-man defense from zone (after they took the lead), and that made a big difference,” said S-E coach Karen Mulligan. “I was proud of the way we played man-to-man. It was the best we have played all season.”
After settling for too many outside shots early in the game, S-E turned up the aggressiveness and penetration to the basket. Mikayla Solloway had her best game of the season leading S-E with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Lilly Berg, Savannah Irwin, and Jordan van Althuis all contributed 12 markers.
“When we started to take the ball to the basket, good things happened,” Mulligan said.
S-E plays at Clinton Monday.
Cooperstown: Christina Noto, 1 1-2-3; Mallory Arthurs 2 3-4-7, Jenn Flynn 3 0-3-6, Lucy Ford 1 0-0-2, Maggie Hall 1 0-0-3, Ciarra McGoldrick 0, Liz Millea 2 0-0-4, SJ Morosko 4 3-4-12. . Totals: 14 7-13-37.
S-E: Stacia Beckwith, 0; Mikayla Solloway, 6 2-2-14; Jordan van Althuis, 5 2-3-12; Bridgette McDaniel, 2 1-2-5; Savannah Irwin, 4 2-3-12; Sydney Palmer, 1 0-0-2; Lilly Berg, 6 0-0-12; Mattie Dowdall, 3 0-0-9. Totals: 27 7-10-66.
Coop. 15 6 9 7–
S-E 10 19 24 13–66
Fouled out: none. Three-point goals: (SE) Dowdall 3, Irwin 2, (C) Morosko, Hall. JV:  Cooperstown won 55-30. Officials: Fletcher, Malia.
