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STAC GIRLS BASKETBALL: OWEGO FALLS TO STATE-RANKED WAVERLY (2025-01-27)

By TIM TAYLOR
Tioga County Sports Report
OWEGO — Owego put up a valiant effort, but came away on the short end of a 50-35 verdict against state-ranked Waverly in STAC Central play here Monday.

The Wolverines, ranked 18th in Class B, rode a 20-8 second-quarter surge, which included 9- and 7-point bursts, to a 35-21 halftime advantage. Three-pointers by Addison Westbrook and Brilynn Belles highlighted the effort.

A Belles feed to Kaylin Twedt underneath with 2 ½ minutes remaining in the second period gave Waverly its biggest lead of the first half, 35-20.

“I thought if we could've kept it to 10 or under by halftime, we would've been in a pretty good spot,” said Owego coach Luke McEvoy. “I thought we battled in the second half … so we didn't let them get away from us. I thought we made a nice little run in the third that we couldn't maintain. A game of runs and we were on the wrong end of it there.”

“We started to put the ball in the basket, started to run a little bit of our offense,” said Waverly coach Bob Kelly. “We didn't do much of that in the second half, but once we started to execute our offense we got some good looks and the ball went in.

“We made our free throws in the first half and didn't make them in the second, but we got some separation there.”

Waverly connected on all seven shots at the stripe early, but was just 1-for-6 after intermission.

Treys from Kaitlyn Sutton and Ryleigh Judson paced the visitors in the third quarter as they built their biggest advantage of the contest, 44-27, with 2:40 to go in the period.

The Wolverines scored the first two baskets of the night and the first of three Judson treys made it 13-4, but four consecutive free throws from the River Hawks Madison McEvoy cut the lead to 13-8 heading into the final two minutes of the opening stanza.

Down by seven, Jenna McEvoy and Lexi Herceg knocked down consecutive field goals, and Madison McEvoy added another free throw, trimming Waverly’s advantage to 15-13 heading into the second quarter.

“They hang around,” Kelly said. “They're a well-coached team and they hang around. They play hard.”

Clinging to a 17-16 edge, the Wolverines recorded nine straight points for their first double-digit lead, 26-16. Then, after giving up a bucket to Ashlyn Dalton, Waverly scored seven more to make it 35-20.

Herceg, despite running into foul trouble early, and Madison McEvoy would score seven points apiece in the first half to keep the Wolverines from pulling away. The River Hawks were unable to make up the deficit in the second half despite the fact Waverly also struggled to put the ball through the rim.

The Wolverines were able to maintain their double-digit advantage with solid defense.

“It’s something that we harp on and they play extremely hard,” Kelly said. “That's our hope, is to play four quarters of in-your-face defense and maybe wear teams down, and today we held them to 35 points. It's a pretty solid defense.”

Lauryn Welles and Judson shared scoring honors for Waverly with nine points apiece with Judson’s coming via the three-ball. Emma Richards-Randall drained her first five free throws and finished with seven points.

Belles, Sutton and Westbrook contributed five points each, Mackenzie Olmsted and Twedt added four apiece and Kendall Rockwell chipped in with two more.

Herceg led all scorers with 12 points while Madison McEvoy chipped in with 10. Jenna McEvoy and Dalton added seven and six, respectively.

Waverly is now 13-1 overall while Owego (2-6 in the division) slipped to 5-8.

“I think we've developed a lot over the season,” coach McEvoy said. “That is a phenomenal team. They're what, 13-1 at this point and going to be highly-ranked in the state after beating the fourth-ranked Class B team, Sus Valley, that we lost to by 30 points the other night.

“For us to compete in this game, I think it was a good spot. There are some things to continue to learn and grow from and hopefully make us better down the home stretch.”

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PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.

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