By TIM TAYLORTioga County Sports Report
OWEGO — Owego fell behind early and was unable to rally back in a 51-40 non-league loss to Southern Cayuga here Tuesday evening.
The Falcons held their host to a Madison McEvoy 3-pointer in the first quarter while career scoring leader Charli Bennett accounted for half of her team’s points to give the visitors a 12-3 lead.
Southern Cayuga took advantage of free throw opportunities to distance itself, going 22-for-34 on the night while the River Hawks went to the line just twice with Ashlyn Dalton going 1-for-3.
“We talked about that at halftime when we didn't give up that many foul shots in the first half,” said Owego coach Luke McEvoy. “We gave up even more in the second half. A lot of it was us, two things, a little bit over aggressive with our hand placement, reaching in, and actually out of position defensively as well too on some of their drives where they were able to get the contact and send them to the line.”
In the second period, Emily Prince went 3-for-4 at the stripe, Erika Black hit both her freebies and Bennett tacked on a 3-pointer.
Owego trimmed a 10-point deficit to 15-10 on a Jenna McEvoy basket and trey, but a 7-point SC run made it 22-10. The River Hawks came back with buckets by Jenna McEvoy and Lexi Herceg, and a trey from Madison McEvoy to trim the lead to 22-17 at the half.
Madison McEvoy drained another three-ball early in the third quarter, cutting the lead to 25-20, but Bennett and Prince combined for eight straight points to build a 33-20 cushion with 3:19 to play in the period.
The Falcons would maintain a double-digit advantage the rest of the way, including a 12-for-15 effort at the free throw line.
Bennett and Prince controlled the tempo in the second half with Bennett scoring 16 of her game-high 25 points and Prince contributing 11 of her 16.
Experience weighed in SC’s favor as four of their starters are seniors, including Bennett, who set the school’s career scoring record midway through her junior season.
“The Bennett girl's tough, obviously. One of the better players in our section as a senior,” coach McEvoy said. “We're led by our two seniors, Madison and Lexi, but the rest of the core of our team and our inside presence is very young and developing, and getting better every day, but just not quite to where we needed it to be tonight in particular.”
SC would build a 44-24 advantage early in the final frame, but Jennah McEvoy scored 13 consecutive points while the Falcons hit seven of eight free throw attempts in the final period.
“She was knocking down some shots for sure,” coach McEvoy said. “I think we're relying on everybody really, and anybody with a lot of talent will steal some of those headlines for scoring points, but we've got a lot of girls that do a lot of little things for us that need to be done to be a successful team.
“I think Jenna stepped up tonight as well too, knocked down some shots when some other shots weren't falling for people and kind of the rotation of some things. I thought we saw some good things from a lot of people.
Jennah McEvoy finished with a team-high 20 points, to go along with six rebounds and three steals, while Madison McEvoy added nine points on a trio of 3-pointers, and four rebounds, Dalton had five points, four rebounds, seven assists, and eight steals, Eva Crawford added four and nine rebounds, and Herceg tacked on two points, three rebounds, and two assists.
Owego (8-12) awaits the Section IV Class A seeds and expects to get a road game, most likely at Oneonta.
The River Hawks will need to work on getting better with their defensive rotations if they hope to win their playoff opener.
“We've had some games where it's been really, really good,” coach McEvoy said. “The last couple games it's kind of let us down a little bit, so we'll reset some of those things, adjust a few things, especially when we’re going to go see an opponent that we've seen before.
“I believe we're going to go to a place where we haven't historically shot very well, so hopefully we can kind of flip that switch and knock down some shots. Hopefully we can get to that point and it'll be an opponent that we know and knows us pretty well. So we'll go out there and, and battle for 32 minutes.”
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IN PHOTO 1: Owego’s Jenna McEvoy. ... IN TOP PHOTO: Owego’s Ashlyn Dalton grabs a steal. ... PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.
