IAC GIRLS BASKETBALL: S-VE DROPS CROSSOVER WITH UNION SPRINGS (22 PHOTOS) (2020-01-10)

Tioga County Sports Report
SPENCER — S-VE posted an impressive second-quarter comeback only to watch things slip away in the second half in a 61-48 IAC Small School crossover loss to Union Springs here Friday.

The Panthers stumbled out of the gate, falling behind, 16-7, after one period of play. They would turn the scoreboard around in the second quarter, rallying to tie the score at 23 heading into the break.

The Wolves would surge ahead in the third period, grabbing a 34-29 advantage at the midway point, but Madelynn Pasto's fast-break basket off a turnover cut the lead to 34-31.

That's as close as S-VE would get as Union Springs closed out the quarter with a 6-2 spurt.

The Wolves would extend their lead to 45-35 with 6:46 left in the game when Kailey Kalet converted a traditional 3-point play. They would lead by 10 again, 57-47, at 5:12, but Sophia Dutra cut the gap to 47-40 with a 3-pointer at 4:40.

With the clock ticking in its favor, Springs locked up the win on a Renee Park trey to give the visitors a 55-42 cushion with 2:07 to go. S-VE was unable to get closer than 11 after that.

Park and Kalet were key to the Wolves' second-half resurgence. Park scored 12 of her 13 total points and Kalet connected for 10 of her 12 after intermission.

Payton Gilbert was the catalyst in Springs' first-quarter surge, accounting for eight of the team's 16 points. She ended the game with 13 points.

Meanwhile, Danielle Waldron was the steady force spreading her game-high 17 points fairly evenly across all four quarters.

Hannah Martinez highlighted S-VE's second-quarter rally, scoring seven points, and Tara Perkins had four more. Perkins led the Panthers with four points in the third period while Dutra got hot in the final frame. She canned three threes and tallied 10 of her team-high 14 points. "This was probably the best game we played so far on the season," said S-VE coach Abby Gentile. "We had a lot of intensity. They were really strong on the boards. I think Tara Perkins did an incredible job on the rebounds tonight and that really helped us.

"It sparked some fast breaks and it just gives us some more confidence. We came down and we were hitting some shot here and there. It was just small, little momentary lapses of our best judgement about what to do with the ball, or just not getting back on defense on every single possession."

Dutra added five rebounds, two steals and a block to her stats, and Perkins was a force on the boards, pulling down 14 rebounds. She also knocked away two shots and scored nine points.

Martinez finished with nine points and eight boards; Grube chipped in with eight points and a block; Sam Deppe contributed six points, seven rebounds and two assists; Pasto had two points, three assists and two steals; Cora Sousa had two assists and Hannah Forrest added a point.

"Overall, they played very, very well tonight and they played hard," Gentile said. "That's a win for us right now and now we're going to turn that into some more actual wins."

S-VE (1-8) visits Waverly (7-2) Tuesday.

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IN PHOTO 1: S-VE's Paige Grube (4). ... PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.