Lady Purple Tornado headed back to STAC championship for 1st time in nearly two decades

NORWICH – Like they have used all season long, Norwich’s full-court pressure became the key factor of the fourth quarter as they tired out the visiting Elmira Express, going on to win the Southern Tier Athletic Conference semifinal 72-57.

The Lady Purple Tornado used a 10-2 run to the start the final eight-minute stretch, where they pulled away from the Express.

Triniti Myers used the backboard to hit the first 3-pointer of the last stanza. In transition, Elmira’s Zaria Demeber-Shazer finished a layup. Following the Express’ two point bucket, Norwich didn’t allow the visiting team over the half-court line very much over the next two minutes in the quarter.

The Norwich scoring in the same stretch continued with Abby Flynn driving to the rim, a Sydney Coggins 3-pointer on an assist from Halea Eaton and the final left-handed drive and finish by Taylor Hansen. The Hansen layup put the Tornado up by 13 with six minutes remaining in the game.

Another key factor to the win was the Norwich defensive effort on Elmira’s Morgan Gentile in the final stanza.

Gentile, who scored the 1,000th point of her career just 30 seconds into the second half and finished with a game-high 24 points, was held to zero points in the fourth.

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The Purple Tornado – who scored 20 points in three of the four quarters of play – jumped out to a 20-12 lead after the first quarter as six different players registered points in the score book.

Elmira’s Gentile, DeMember-Shazer and Zhane Holmes combined to score 21 points, outscoring the home team in the stanza to go into the break up by one (33-32).

Contributing the second quarter set back by Norwich were their turnovers as they showed signs of sloppy play in the eight minute stretch. At the end of the first half, the Tornado had recorded 13 mistakes that led to the Express picking up points at the other end.

Out of the intermission, Norwich began to take care of the ball better and recorded a second half total of just five turnovers. Forcing Elmira into the miscues, the Purple Tornado came away with 17 steals, most coming in the second half of play.

Norwich was led by Myers’ 14 points with Coggins scoring 12. The two combined for eight of the home team’s 10 made 3-point field goals. Saige Benedict and Nicole Jeffrey totaled 10 points each and were the other two team members to drained a long-range shot.

Hansen had 10 points while teammate’s Flynn and Eaton had nine points each, giving the Purple Tornado a very balanced scoring attack.