By TIM TAYLORTioga County Sports Report
NEWARK VALLEY — Watkins Glen sank four of six free throw attempts in the final seconds to fend off Newark Valley, 31-28, in a defensive battle to decide the IAC South Large School champion here Tuesday night.
“I knew that was going to be a defensive battle and every basket was going to be precious for both teams,” said coach Greg Schweiger. “It was just a matter of who strung together one or two baskets in a row.
“Both teams played really good defense and their offense was just a little bit better, and that was the difference.
“I'm proud of our effort. Proud of being where we're at right now in the season. Only losing to Watkins in the league is nothing to be ashamed of. The girls have done a heck of a job this season.”
With the Lake Hawks leading, 27-24, Rachel Vickio stepped to the foul line with 16 ½ seconds remaining in the game and drained a pair of free throws.
While not an impossible challenge, making up five points in that short amount of time would be a formidable task for any team. Still, the Cardinals tried their best and answered quickly with an Adriana Rich layup with 14 seconds to go.
Watkins Glen’s Michaela Wheaton countered with a free throw with 10.9 seconds left. Haven Aylesworth responded with a quick basket to narrow the gap to 30-28, but Vickio sealed the deal with a free throw with 1.5 seconds on the clock.
Early on, the Lake Hawks looked like they might dominate following a Wheaton basket and Vickio 3-pointer in the first 68 seconds of action.
Meanwhile, turnovers helped keep NV off the scoreboard until Aylesworth removed the goose egg from the scoreboard with a bucket at 5:08.
Elizabeth Phillips added a free throw at 3:38 and the contest headed into the second quarter with Watkins Glen up, 5-3.
Vickio started the second period scoring with a free throw, but Kam Short and Rich wrapped baskets around a Wheaton bucket to pull within a point at 8-7.
Emma Cady’s trey stretched the lead to 11-7, but NV closed out the half with a 6-0 run. Short started off with a putback, then Aylesworth scored on a feed from Gabbi James, knotting the score with 38 ticks on the clock.
Aylesworth wasn’t done, however, grabbing the rebound on the Lake Hawks’ next possession for a coast-to-coast basket, giving the home team its first lead of the evening at 13-11.
She would score first to open the second half, giving Newark Valley a 15-11 advantage, but Watkins Glen came right to knot the score at 15 on buckets from Cady and Wheaton.
Two free throws and a basket by Vickio, and a bucket from Olivia King gave the Lake Hawks a 21-15 lead heading into the final minute of the period.
Aubrey Kwiatkowski scored four points before the end of the third to make it a 21-19 contest. She was fouled on a short jumper and sank two shots at the stripe then, following a block by Short, turned a rebound in the paint into a basket.
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, they missed four consecutive free throws to start the fourth quarter, however, a steal and layup by Aylesworth tied the game at 21.
King and Short traded baskets, but a basket by Vickio at 2:38 and another from King at 1:33 gave the visitors a 27-23 lead.
Rich sank a free throw to cut the lead to 27-24 as the game moved into its final minute.
In recent years, NV has had one or two standouts to rely on. This team is more balanced.
“The way the season has been, you never know who's going to rise up and have a big game and contribute,” Schweiger said. “So to my mind, that's kind of the way you want to have your team to be, but when you get in a tight game like this, you're kind of looking around trying to find somebody to generate a basket, just one basket.
“They played hard and they played together, and they executed things that we wanted,” he added of his team. “They just made one more basket than us. I think we could keep playing them over and over again and probably have the same result.
“We'll shake this off and move on to sectionals. The new season begins.”
Aylesworth led NV with 12 points, and also had seven rebounds, four steals and an assist. Short chipped in with six points, five blocked shots, five rebounds, a steal and an assist; Rich had five points, six boards, four steals, a block and an assist; Kwiatkowski contributed four points, two steals and two rebounds; Phillips added one points, 14 boards, a block, a steal and an assist; and Gabbi James tacked dished out one assist.
Vickio led all scorers with 13 points. Wheaton had seven points and five steals; King recorded six points, 10 rebounds and two blocks; and Cady added five points and four assists.
Neither team shot particularly well with much of the credit going to the defensive efforts. NV made just 39 percent of its field goal attempts and was 0-for-17 from beyond the arc. The Lake Hawks made two 3-pointers and their field goal percentage wasn’t much higher than their host’s.
The Cardinals were 4-for-12 at the foul line while Watkins Glen was 7-for-18.
Section IV tournament seeds will be released on Thursday.
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IN PHOTO 1: Haven Aylesworth. … PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.
