In each of Josh Bennett’s first five seasons as head coach of the varsity girls’ basketball team, he had at least one go-to player to turn to when he needed a big play. First it was Hannah Runyon, then Bryn Loomis, and in the previous two seasons, Jenni Borfitz or Breanna Cashman fit the bill.
One or two predominant players were enough to send Norwich to three section finals appearances in five seasons. In 2014-2015, the Purple Tornado advanced to their fourth sectional championship game, and are doing it with not one clutch player, but five, six or even seven players.
Going into every game, Bennett has no idea which one of his players will lead the way. “It goes without saying that this is by far the most balanced team I have ever coached,” the NHS mentor said. “There was an adjustment at the beginning of the year because we always had that one kid that we turned to or ran a set for when we needed a play. This season, it’s more or less who is hot, who is playing well, and who is playing well on that particular night.”
An accounting of Norwich’s statistics revealed that four of the five starters have led the team in scoring at least once, and the first two players off of the bench have also topped Norwich’s scoring charts.
One recent example of Norwich’s depth of scoring came in the Feb. 20 playoff victory over Whitney Point. Starting center Meghan Komendarek, one of the club’s leading scorers and rebounders, was forced to sit out the game due to injury. Stepping into the starting lineup was Kassidy Seary, was who averaging less than three points a game. All Seary did was score a game-high 14 points and pull down 15 rebounds in a three-point win.
The next game against Seton Catholic Central, sophomore Makenzie Maynard, who leads the team in scoring at 11 points a game, produced a complete 180 from an earlier performance against the Saints. Maynard scored just three points in the Tornado’s January loss to the Saints, but matched her season-high with 18 points – most of those in the second half – leading the Purple Tornado to a comeback victory and a berth in the sectional finals.
Carin Kuhn, Caitlyn Brown, Savannah Williams, Shelby Benjamin, Bridget Murphy, Ashley Murphy, Courtney Scheer, Carey Sheldon, Seary, Maynard, and Komendarek make up this year’s balanced purple and white, and are this week’s collective selection as Matthews Ford and Planned Preowned Athletes of the Week.
“We have to be more difficult to defend this year,” Bennett said. “When you’re writing out a scouting report, who do you stop? We have five, six or seven kids that can lead us in scoring any given night.”
If you were to pick your poison, whom would you stop? The top eight players in the Norwich rotation can all put the ball on the floor and drive to the basket. Any one of those players can bring the ball up the floor – and often do – and six of the top eight players are established shooting threats from behind the three-point arc.
Norwich has the ability to score inside and outside, and that has allowed NHS to put up 58.3 points per game, the highest per game average of any Chenango County girls’ basketball team.
Yet, only two players – Maynard at 11.0 and Benjamin at 10.5 – average in double figures scoring. “I can’t say enough about how unselfish this team is,” Bennett said. “It’s about making the extra pass and getting the ball to the open man.”
While any number of players handle the ball, senior Carin Kuhn has taken over the point guard duties, and performed admirably in her first season at the position averaging just under five assists a game. This comes from a complementary player to Borfitz and Cashman the previous two seasons whose primary function was to shoot and score.
