By TIM TAYLORSouthern Tier Sports Report
SOUTHPORT — Elmira Notre Dame fell victim to a 12-point run to end the first quarter and was unable to make a comeback in a 49-31 IAC South Small School girls basketball loss to a taller Newark Valley squad here Friday evening.
Newark Valley also held a distinct advantage over the Crusaders in the height category.
“I told the girls before the game the height difference was going to be huge and that the only way we're going to get rebounds is if we get in there and box out,” ND coach Cara Hope said. “Still we were oversized, they have a really good team, they're well coached and have skilled players.”
“We needed to win the rebounding battle, and we did,” NV coach Greg Schweiger said. “I thought, again, we're struggling to really get efficient on offense, but our defense is carrying the day.”
The Crusaders held a 6-5 edge when NV started the surge to close out the first quarter.
Adriana Rich, Haven Aylesworth and Kam Short scored four points apiece to put the Cardinals up to stay, 17-6.
Jhamairah Maxwell snapped the run with a basket just 18 seconds into the second period and tacked on a free throw 35 seconds later to make it 17-9, but buckets by Rich, Aylesworth and Short pushed the NV lead to 23-9.
Meanwhile, Notre Dame struggled to find the inside of the rim.
“That was the other problem, we couldn't score and if you can't score, you're not going to win a game,” Hope said. “Payton had a rough night. She was double-teamed, just got blocked quite a bit. They did a good job in trying to take our point guard (Kalysta DeMark) out of the game and out of her rhythm. She's had some back-to-back games of 31 points.
“We just need other kids to step up, hit shots and crash boards. It was like we were one and done with the shots, so stuff we’ve got to work on, stuff we’ve got to build on. I'm proud of their effort but we can get better.”
“That's a team that can score a lot,” Schweiger said. “They've got two players that can score a lot, so we were very focused on making sure that didn't happen, so if we struggled to score, we still got to come out on top. Luckily, we got some looks and got some putbacks, and so we started to right the ship that way, but mostly proud of my defense tonight.
“Kam battled inside and I thought this might be a good game for Haven where she'd be able to drive and get downhill and she did, and then Richie showed up and put a lot of points on the board too.
“Aubrey, the defense she played on their best player the whole game, hounding her and holding her down, that was a huge difference for us too, so a great team game.”
Payton Sutryk and Kalysta DeMark scored back-to-back midway through the second quarter, closing the gap to 23-13, but Ayelsworth hit a free throw and Short added a basket to make it 26-13. DeMark would drain a 3-pointer with 22 seconds remaining in the half to cut the margin to 10 at the break.
Notre Dame managed to cut NV’s lead to 10 on four occasions during the game, but was never able to cut the gap to single digits.
The second half began with NV’s Malloy Chapman and ND’s Maxwell trading buckets, then Ayelesworth hitting a field goal and ND’s Emily Coseo following with a pair of free throws, keeping the difference at 10, 30-20.
The Cardinals would create more space as Aubrey Kwiatkowski and Short combined to hit four consecutive foul shots and Aylesworth adding a basket to extend the lead to 36-20.
The Crusaders refused to give in as Sutryk picked up a bucket and Coseo followed with a 3-pointer.
Newark Valley would close out the period on an 8-2 surge with Rich accounting for five points and the defense allowing ND one free throw each by DeMark and Sutryk.
The final frame saw just nine points scored as Aylesworth drained a trey, Maxwell pulling off a steal and layup, Rich adding a basket and the Crusaders’ DaNasia Darrow closing out the scoring with a bucket.
DeMark led Notre Dame (5-2 IAC, 7-3 overall) with eight points. Maxwell and Sutryk contributed seven apiece, Coseo had five, and Darrow and Maci McWhorter added two.
Rich paced NV (7-0 IAC, 10-2 overall) with 18 points, Aylesworth scored 17 and Short tacked on 10 more.
“It's nice to get through the first time around,”Schweiger said. “We haven't lost a game undefeated in the league, so it means nothing for the second time around, but I'd rather be there than somewhere else.”
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PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.
