STAC GIRLS BASKETBALL: DEFENSE, DOANE KEY OWEGO WIN OVER WINDSOR (2023-12-13)

By ROB CENTORANI
Tioga County Sports Report
WINDSOR — Behind a game-high 22 points from Cassie Doane and an active defense that forced numerous turnovers, Owego's girls handed Windsor a 63-39 Southern Tier Athletic Conference basketball loss Wednesday.

Following a closely-played first quarter, Doane scored six points in a second quarter dominated by Owego, the last two coming on a driving layup with six seconds left in the half to make it 31-16.

Doane, a 5-foot-11 senior forward, scored inside 30 seconds into the third quarter and when she converted a putback with 4 minutes, 25 seconds left in the third quarter, Owego had a 39-20 lead.

"They started in a box-and-one on (Maddie McEvoy), our point guard and leading scorer, and that opens up opportunities for other people and Cassie kept moving and got to the right spots and we found her. She was finishing around the basket," Owego coach Luke McEvoy said.

From Windsor's standpoint, it can look back on pockets of the game where it played right along with Owego. The Black Knights started well in the opening quarter, trailing, 15-11, after one quarter.

After falling behind by 21 in the third quarter, point guard Claire Beattie spearheaded a 10-2 spurt that narrowed the deficit to 13.

Beattie scored in the lane midway through the quarter, hit a pair of free throws 16 seconds later, sent an entry pass to Sonyea Knapp, whose turnaround shot along the right baseline made it 41-26 with 3:17 left in the quarter.

That set up the prettiest play of the night for Windsor. Knapp passed to Danika Smith near the left elbow, cut to the basket, received a return pass from Smith and hit the layup to make it a 13-point spread.

After Owego's Ashlyn Dalton hit a 15-footer along the right baseline off a pass by Doane, Beattie turned a steal into a layup and Windsor trailed, 43-30, with 2:10 to go in the quarter.

"She played the exact way I wanted her to play in that third quarter," Windsor coach Kelcie Marshall said of Beattie, who scored a team-high 14 points.

But the Black Knights could not sustain that level of play.

Alexis Herceg, who finished with 19 points, turned a steal into a layup with nine seconds left in the quarter, giving Owego a 47-31 lead.

Owego then scored the first 16 points of the fourth quarter, a stretch that included two three-pointers by McEvoy, and transition layups by Taylor Dalton and Ava Brown.

"Definitely a point of emphasis for us is to use our athleticism, our quickness and find those gaps and get into those lanes," McEvoy said. "We prefer deflections to individual steals. Those deflections lead to teammates getting steals and us getting out in transition."

Maddie McEvoy finished with 12 points for Owego (3-2), which will play host to Oneonta on Saturday.

Sydney Angelo hit a pair of three-pointers and scored 10 points for the Black Knights (1-5), who will travel to Waverly on Saturday.

Owego 63, Windsor 39
OWEGO (3-2): Taylor Dalton 2 0-0 4, Alexis Herceg 8 1-2 19, Cassie Doane 8 5-11 22, Olivia Crapser 0 0-0 0, Maddie McEvoy 3 4-6 12, Stella Palladino 0 0-2 0, Ava Brown 2 0-0 4, Ash Dalton 1 0-0 2, Logan Georgia 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 24 10-21 63.

WINDSOR (1-5): Danika Smith 0 0-2 0, Claire Beattie 5 3-4 14, Charley Carr 0 2-4 2, Grace Deyo 2 0-0 4, Paige Smith 1 1-1 3, Sydney Angelo 3 2-2 10, Emily Ayers 2 0-0 4, Sonyea Knapp 1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 14 8-13 39.
Owego ....... 15 16 16 16 — 63
Windsor ..... 11 5 15 8 — 39

Three-point field goals: O 5 (Herceg 2, Doane, McEvoy 2); W 3 (Beattie, Angelo 2).

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PHOTOS BY ROB CENTORANI.

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