NORWICH – Officially, the absence of a fourth team left the annual Pennyaver tournament without a champion. Unofficially, Norwich can assert itself as champions beating New Hartford on Friday and Utica Proctor on Saturday.
Norwich had four players in the nine- to 13-point range in a 64-40 victory over New Hartford, and followed that up with an 11-point victory over an athletic Proctor club, 44-33.
The tournament was reduced to four teams when Vestal bowed out of the tournament two weeks ago citing a conflict of school activities.
The host Tornado remained undeterred in winning their game third straight game. “Even though it was our lowest point total of the season, I thought it was the best we played offensively,” said Norwich coach Josh Bennett after the win over Utica. “We just didn’t finish easy baskets.”
Saturday’s game remained on the docket despite a wintry mix that canceled events across the area. The adverse conditions Proctor braved to reach Norwich were no more difficult than solving a stingy NHS defense that allowed just 11 points in the first half.
Ahead by four entering the second quarter, Norwich did not allow a field goal in the second stanza, and stretched the lead out to 11 by halftime. Kassidy Seary scored on a pair of early layups to begin a 6-0 run at the quarter’s outset, and four consecutive free throws from Breanna Cashman and Meghan Komendarek closed the half.
From the end of the first quarter to the early part of the third quarter, Utica went nearly 10 minutes without a field goal. Norwich stretched its lead to as many as 16 in the third quarter. Jenni Borfitz’s driving layup three minutes into the third made it 30-14.
Proctor trimmed the Norwich lead back to eight points with four different players connecting for buckets over the next four minutes. “We played tremendous defense in the first half,” Bennett said. “We really followed our game plan. We rebounded okay, and did a good job of containing the dribble...we just got a little lazy with that in the second half, and that is why they were able to stay with us.”
Mackenzie Maynard’s baseline 15-footer for Norwich upped the lead to 10, 32-22, entering the fourth.
After Savannah Williams’ three-point play for Norwich raised the host team’s lead back to 13, Utica made one more run closing to 37-30 after Illeigha Graham’s jumper.
Seary converted a layup off a dish from Shelby Benjamin, and all was right again for the Purple. Borfitz scored 11 in the win and Cashman added nine points, 10 rebounds. five assists, four steals, and four blocked shots.
Friday, it only seemed like a matter of time before Norwich would jettison New Hartford. That time came in the third quarter when the Purple Tornado defense forced 11 New Hartford turnovers and 22 for the game. A six-point halftime lead grew to 18 with Norwich scoring the final nine points of the quarter.
“They definitely had trouble with our pressure,” Bennett said. “I’m sure everyone in the gym was concerned in the first half when we didn’t look good offensively. But I wasn’t concerned at all. We were getting good shots and lot of gaps to attack. I knew we would eventually score in bunches.”
