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It was a nail-biter, but in the end the Norwich Lady Eagles were able to prevail in the 54 Classic championship game over the Skyline Lady Thunderbirds, 38-37.
Although recently dropping from their #1 ranking following a defeat by Hutch Central Christian, the Lady Eagles still carried the swagger of a formidable team. However, Norwich nearly suffered another defeat at the hands of a pesky young Skyline team that was not intimidated, and would not go away.
It took awhile for the Lady T-Birds to get untracked, trailing 8-2 with about three minutes left in the 1st quarter. Then Alyssa Swonger scored on a putback, Kaitlyn Stark hit a jumper and Brooke Fisher canned a free throw to get the Skyliners going. After Norwich converted a 1+1, the quarter ended with the Lady Eagles in front 10-7.
The second quarter started out looking much like the first. All-tournament players Mackenzie Klaver and Michelle VanGieson were doing most of the damage for Norwich, while the T-Birds were struggling to get much going offensively. The Lady Eagles had opened up their biggest lead of the night, 20-11, with about three minutes left in the first half.
But then, following a timeout by head coach Jimmy Lee, the Thunderbirds went on an 8-0 run. Keyed by a pair of trifectas from Kaitlyn Stark and Janessa Davis converting on an assist from Stark, Skyline was able to get back in the ballgame, trailing only 20-19 at that point.
“I just told the girls we were getting good looks,” Coach Lee explained regarding the timeout, “but that we needed to have more confidence and the shots would start to fall.” He was right.
The half ended on a pair of Norwich buckets that pushed their lead back out to 24-19 at the intermission.
The third quarter was a see-saw affair, with the Skyliners getting a little bit the best of it, 11-10. The Thunderbirds were able to find the range from 3-point land, as Stark hit a couple of them and Anna Petrowski drained one of her own. Morgan Flowers also contributed a field goal in a stanza which saw the Lady T-Birds narrow the deficit to 34-30.
Norwich scored the first four points of the decisive period within the first two minutes to stretch their lead to 38-30. But it was the last points they would score on the night as the T-Birds rose to the occasion and clamped down on defense. Skyline scored the next seven points, four from Stark and a 3-ball from Morgan Flowers to cut the deficit to a single point with a little over two minutes to play.
It was a nail-biter, but in the end the Norwich Lady Eagles were able to prevail in the 54 Classic championship game over the Skyline Lady Thunderbirds, 38-37.
Although recently dropping from their #1 ranking following a defeat by Hutch Central Christian, the Lady Eagles still carried the swagger of a formidable team. However, Norwich nearly suffered another defeat at the hands of a pesky young Skyline team that was not intimidated, and would not go away.
It took awhile for the Lady T-Birds to get untracked, trailing 8-2 with about three minutes left in the 1st quarter. Then Alyssa Swonger scored on a putback, Kaitlyn Stark hit a jumper and Brooke Fisher canned a free throw to get the Skyliners going. After Norwich converted a 1+1, the quarter ended with the Lady Eagles in front 10-7.
The second quarter started out looking much like the first. All-tournament players Mackenzie Klaver and Michelle VanGieson were doing most of the damage for Norwich, while the T-Birds were struggling to get much going offensively. The Lady Eagles had opened up their biggest lead of the night, 20-11, with about three minutes left in the first half.
But then, following a timeout by head coach Jimmy Lee, the Thunderbirds went on an 8-0 run. Keyed by a pair of trifectas from Kaitlyn Stark and Janessa Davis converting on an assist from Stark, Skyline was able to get back in the ballgame, trailing only 20-19 at that point.
“I just told the girls we were getting good looks,” Coach Lee explained regarding the timeout, “but that we needed to have more confidence and the shots would start to fall.” He was right.
The half ended on a pair of Norwich buckets that pushed their lead back out to 24-19 at the intermission.
The third quarter was a see-saw affair, with the Skyliners getting a little bit the best of it, 11-10. The Thunderbirds were able to find the range from 3-point land, as Stark hit a couple of them and Anna Petrowski drained one of her own. Morgan Flowers also contributed a field goal in a stanza which saw the Lady T-Birds narrow the deficit to 34-30.
Norwich scored the first four points of the decisive period within the first two minutes to stretch their lead to 38-30. But it was the last points they would score on the night as the T-Birds rose to the occasion and clamped down on defense. Skyline scored the next seven points, four from Stark and a 3-ball from Morgan Flowers to cut the deficit to a single point with a little over two minutes to play.
The Thunderbirds had to rely on defense to get the ball back. Skyline still had five fouls to give, so putting the Eagles at the line was not an option.
“We don’t foul,” Coach Lee commented. “We’d rather make teams score with their offense than let them shoot free throws.”
The T-Birds were able to get the ball back a few times down the stretch with defensive pressure, and were able to get good looks at the basket. But the shots would not fall, either rimming out or glancing off the back iron, and so the upset bid fell just short.
A couple of Lady Thunderbirds received special honors after the game. Senior Anna Petrowsky was the winner of the 54 Classic free throw shooting contest and sophomore Kaitlyn Stark won the 3 point shooting contest. Stark’s efforts throughout the week were further recognized when she was named to the all-tournament team and was also named recipient of the coveted and prestigious “Hustle Award.”
Stark led the Lady T-Birds in scoring with 18 points. Morgan Flowers had 5, Janessa Davis and Kadi Richardson each had 4. Anna Petrowski scored 3 points, Alyssa Swonger 2, and Brooke Fisher 1 to round out the Skyline scoring.
Alyssa Swonger led a balanced Skyline effort on the glass with 4 boards. Kari Richardson, Morgan Flowers, Kaitlyn Stark and Anna Petrowski each carded three caroms, and Janessa Davis had one. Swonger and Stark each had three steals and Swonger and Richardson each were credited with a shot block. Ballhandlers Petrowski and Stark each had 4 assists.
With the loss, Skyline drops to 10-3 on the season. They will return to HOPL action Tuesday night at home against the Stafford Trojans, with a 6:00 p.m. tip-off.
