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IAC GIRLS BASKETBALL: NEWARK VALLEY CAPTURES LARGE SCHOOL CHAMPIONSHIP (2020-02-20)

BY TIM TAYLOR
Tioga County Sports Report
DRYDEN — A league championship drought which Newark Valley has endured since the early 1990s came to a screeching halt with a 72-16 romp past Whitney Point in the IAC Large School championship game at Tompkins-Cortland Community College here Friday evening.

"The big picture is it's something we haven't done in 30 years? Nobody can remember, since 1991 I believe," NV coach Greg Schweiger said. "And we haven't even been here. It's not that we lost. We haven't even been here, so this group, what they've done to turn around the program. You can see that, the teamwork and the way that we play together. My message in the locker room was play with enthusiasm, play with energy and play together. We're always going to get good results when we do those things. You saw that tonight.

"It's a program-changing win for us to finally be on this stage and hopefully come back again."

"I worked hard for this for years," said senior point guard Kendra Morris. "Our first year we really sucked, so to work up to this, it means a lot."

She believes winning the title means a lot to her teammates as well.

"I think they think it means a lot to them too," she said. "We've all worked hard for this the whole season to beat (division rivals) Waverly and Watkins Glen. It's just a big effort out of all of us."

The Cardinals put on an impressive defensive effort as they prevented the Golden Eagles from establishing any offensive flow. NV would grab 16 steals and block four shots, not to mention the fact they created numerous turnovers.

NV held the Point to single digits in every quarter and no WP player scored more than four points, including IAC North Large School MVP Jane Austenfeld. The Eagles' struggles came to the surface early with two shot clock violations, a pair of 10-second violations, a double dribble and a couple of steals in the game's first six minutes.

"Tom's (Kraly) got a young team and he's going to have them at a higher level as they get older, and they certainly are going to improve, but we were able to kind of pressure them into more mistakes," Schweiger said. "We were definitely going to have the intent of getting in their jersey and making that happen. My other goal was mixing it up. I think I ran every defense I know, so it kind of kept them off balance for sure."

Those Whitney Point miscues helped a slightly sluggish NV offense build an 6-0 advantage in the first 4 1/2 minutes. Gracie Gardner scored a pair of baskets in the paint, with a Morris layup following a loose ball. Hannah Ferguson made it 8-0 with a putback of a teammate's miss then, as the clock dipped below the two-minute, the Cardinals really caught fire.

Morris knocked down a 3-pointer at 1:57, which was followed by another from Taylor Benjamin at 1:32. Emma Morgan put the Eagles on the scoreboard with a trey at 1:08, then NV countered with a three from Allie Wandell with 45 seconds left in the period, making it 17-3.

Wandell opened the second quarter with a steal and layup and, after a Whitney Point free throw, Bri Beebe knocked down a three.

With Mackenna Nechwedowich running into foul trouble — she drew her third with 5:05 left in the half — the Eagles would close the gap to 22-9, but that's as close as they would get.

A Wandell layup broke a 1 1/2-minute plus scoring drought (a long time by NV standards), then Hannah Ferguson and Beebe nailed back-to-back treys less than 30 seconds apart to cap an 8-0 burst and make the score 30-9. The Cardinals made eight threes on the night, six in a little over 13 minutes of first-half action.

"Certainly, the three ball early in the game was key, because again, the same old thing, you're playing a team for the third time and he (Kraly) knew he was not going to let my big girls go wild. They were doubled and tripled, so I'm really glad we were able to step up and hit threes early to get a little bit of a lead. Then they kind of wore down later in the game and we were getting more points on the inside.

The Cardinals scored the final five points of the half, then continued what would be a 19-0 run in the third quarter. Nechwedowich's bookend baskets highlighted the early second-half burst which included two Gracie Gardner buckets, a Beebe trey and Hannah Ferguson's tradition al 3-point play.

The Eagles scored their first points of the half on a pair of Casey St. John free throws with just over a minute left in the third and NV would take a 52-12 cushion into the final frame.

Hannah Ferguson would continue what would be a 15-0 run with a trey to open the fourth quarter. Following Beebe and Gracie Gardner field goals, Makana hit three of five consecutive free throws to make the score 62-12. She was fouled on a 3-point attempt and made the first two shots. She missed the third, but grabbed the rebound and was fouled on the putback, giving her two more free throw attempts.

Beebe hit a pair of free throws and Wandell added a basket to close out the run and give NV a 66-12 advantage midway through the fourth quarter.

Hannah Ferguson scored a game-high 15 points, pulled down six rebounds and snagged five steals. Wandell had 14 points, four boards and three steals; and Beebe added 13 points. Beebe accounted for three of the Cardinals' eight treys and Hannah Ferguson had two.

Gracie Gardner contributed eight points, two assists and two steals; Benjamin had six points, three assists and a block; Morris chipped in with five points, three assists and three steals; Nechwedowich had four points, four boards, three blocks, three assists and three steals; Makana Gardner added five points; and Allison Walker tacked on two points and four rebounds. Liz Ferguson and Sarah Mertson contributed to the win as well.

Keaghan Johnson and Morgan led WP with four points apiece.

Newark Valley takes a 20-0 record, a No. 4 state ranking and a No. 3 seed into the Section IV Class B playoffs next week.

So, just who gets the credit for NV's success this season? Several people, according to Morris.

"The coaches and the fans, and just each other for pushing ourselves to be better," she said.

The Cardinals will host sixth-seeded Waverly Feb. 29.

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IN PHOTO 1: NV's Kendra Morris. ... PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.

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