HS GIRLS BASKETBALL: OWEGO BATTLES PAST CANDOR AT CHOP OUT HUNGER TOURNEY (December 29, 2025)
By TIM TAYLOR
Tioga County Sports Report
ATHENS — Four fourth quarter 3-pointers helped Owego battle past Candor, 48-39, in the opening round of the 2025 CHOP Out Hunger Holiday Basketball Tournament here Monday.
“We needed to make some shots,” Owego coach Luke McEvoy said. “I thought early on we got some good shots. They just weren't falling.
“Actually, just talking with the Candor coaches as well too. They said what's up with the balls here? I was like Pennsylvania basketballs just don't want to go in for us but they did in the fourth which was key.”
“I'm happy with the effort,” Candor coach Carl Kanoff said. “It's a bigger school. They had a good shooter and we tried to pay attention to her. She got open a couple times and hit shots when they needed to hit them.
“I think we were a little sloppy with the ball a couple times. It hurt us on fast breaks, gave them some points, but we worked really hard on both ends. We had some good defensive stops, we had some good shots, we had some excellent rebounding.”
Leading, 33-28, early in the final frame, the Coyotes’ Jenna McEvoy nailed the first trey of the period at 6:28, but Emmi Makie’s traditional 3-point play, and steal and layup, closed the gap to 36-33.
Jenna McEvoy followed with another trey and shortly afterward, Candor’s Shawna Conklin fouled out, taking away any height advantage the Coyotes might have had.
“Foul trouble with our big hurt a little bit, but other than that, having not played in 13 days, on a neutral court against a bigger school, at least we're playing basketball,” Kanoff said.
Not long after that, Eva Crawford sank a pair of free throws to push the lead to 41-33, but Makie countered with a three ball and Megan Williamson found Hazel Ray with a cross-court pass for a basket to trim the margin to 41-38 with 2:24 remaining.
Owego’s free throw shooting improved in the second half as they went 6-for-8 as compared to 2-for-6 in the first half.
“I think late, 4-for-6,” coach McEvoy said of the fourth quarter effort at the line. “We missed some early on and we've got some good free throw shooters going to the line that haven't been as consistent as I know they'd like to be and I'd like them to be as well too, but we got the ones when we needed them.”
The River Hawks answered with 3-pointers from Ashlyn Dalton at 2:24 and Jenna McEvoy at 1:25 to secure the victory, giving Owego a 47-38 advantage.
Jenna McEvoy knocked down a pair of treys and scored eight points while Makie had five for Candor in a back-and-forth battle for the first six minutes of the first quarter with Owego coming out ahead, 11-8.
The River Hawks would stretch their lead to eight points three times in the second period on the strength of five points from Marielle Searles and four more by Crawford.
Meanwhile, Williamson put up a pair of buckets for Candor, and Makie’s steal and layup cut the lead to 21-15 at the half.
Williamson had eight points in the third quarter to lead a Candor rally. Her rebound and bucket of a teammate’s missed free throw tied the game at 23 just over a minute into the period, then her 3-pointer with 3:07 on the clock knotted things up at 26 apiece.
That would be it for the Coyotes as a Searles basket followed by Dalton’s steal and layup gave Owego a 30-26 advantage.
Candor had an opportunity to tie the game at the charity stripe, but missed four consecutive foul shots.
Crawford and Makie exchanged baskets in the final minute of the period to make it a 32-28 contest heading into the final frame.
Jenna McEvoy’s 20 points included five 3-pointers. She also had 14 steals, two assists and two rebounds. Crawford and Searles scored 11 points and grabbed seven boards apiece, and Crawford tacked on three blocks and three assists as well.
Dalton contributed six points, four assists, four rebounds and four steals; Jana Nikulich chipped in with four rebounds, one assist and one steal; Katelyn Dodge had four boards and two assists; and Keely Wicklund added four rebounds and one steal.
Makie put up 20 points for Candor, Williamson added 14, Malley Heidl had three and Ray added two.
Candor takes on Tioga at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday in the consolation game while Owego (6-1) faces Athens (3-4) at 6:30 p.m. for the title.
——————
PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.
Print Friendly Version
