Girls’ Basketball

More Than a Game Foundation Tournament

Baldwinsville 82, Norwich 69

BALDWINSVILLE – Norwich's second straight comeback bid in the More Than a Game Foundation Tournament fell short, as the Tornado fell to Class AA state-ranked Baldwinsville Saturday afternoon.

The Bees had all five starters finish in double figures scoring led by guards Hope DeFazio and Emily Pascale, who had 22 and 20 points respectively in handing Norwich its first loss.

Norwich trimmed a 15-point deficit to start the fourth down to five at one point behind the scoring of Savannah Williams and Shelby Benjamin. The two junior forwards combined for 17 points in the last stanza, and senior Carin Kuhn canned a big three-pointer.

The Bees wrapped up the win hitting 14-of-14 free throws in the final quarter with Pascale a perfect 8-for-8 from behind the charity stripe.

"This might sound horrible, but we actually played pretty well, and still gave up 82 points," said Norwich coach Josh Bennett. "That is a very good team that is very big, and has guards that shoot it well."

Complementing Pascale and DeFazio were 6-foot-4 Rachael Miller (16 points) and 6-foot-1 Riley Carlucci (12 points). Baldwinsville was easily the biggest team Norwich has seen this year, and may see the rest of the way.

"DeFazio definitely shot it well, and we made a considerable effort to get out to her," Bennett said. "But then they would just dump it into the big kid, and we couldn't do anything to stop her because we were too stretched out. It was a case of picking your poison."

Baldwinsville clung to five-point halftime lead, but surged in the third quarter behind DeFazio, who netted 13 of her team's 24 points to raise the lead to 58-43.

Norwich received consistent scoring throughout from Meghan Komendarek, who had four points in every quarter to finish with a team-high 16. Williams and Benjamin tossed in matching 15-point nights, and Kuhn wound up with 11.

Norwich plays at Utica Proctor tonight.

Norwich: Caitlyn Brown, 0; Carin Kuhn 4 0-0-11; Kassidy Seary, 2 0-1-4; Makenzie Maynard, 1 5-6-8; Meghan Komendarek, 5 6-6-16; Bridget Murphy, 0; Savannah Williams, 5 2-2-15; Shelby Benjamin, 5 5-8-15; Courtney Scheer, 0; Ashley Murphy, 0. Totals: 22 18-23-69.

Baldwinsville: Emily Pascale 5 10-12-20; Kaylee Lammers 1 0-0-2; Foertch, 0; Katie Walsh, 4 2-4-10; Riley Carlucci, 4 4-4-12; Rachael Miller, 5 6-6-16; Hope DeFazio, 8 4-4-22. Totals: 27 26-30-82

Norwich 10 19 14 26–69

Baldwin. 18 16 24 24–82

Fouled out: (B) Lammers. Three-point goals: (B) DeFazio 2. (N) Kuhn 3, Williams 3, Maynard.

Boys' Basketball

Tyburn Academy 62, Otselic Valley 56