Girls’ Basketball

Norwich 41, Owego 40

NORWICH – Norwich made two defensive stops in the final 20 seconds to hold on against Owego Tuesday night at Jack Jones Gymnasium.

In a seesaw fourth quarter that saw five ties or lead changes, Norwich took the lead for good when Breanne Cashman hit two free throws to make it 40-40, and Jenny Borfitz made one of two charity tosses with 1:24 left for the one point lead.

Two possessions later, Owego had the ball with under 30 seconds to play. Norwich’s frontcourt trapped the Owego ballhandler forcing a bad pass that was stolen by NHS senior Hailey Dietrich.

After Bryn Loomis missed the front end of a one-and-one free throw for Norwich, Owego had one final opportunity to take the lead. Courtney Malia drove the right baseline toward the hoop, but her shot bounced around the rim and was knocked out of bounds with 0.8 seconds remaining. The ensuing inbounds pass never found an Owego player’s hands as time expired.

In was was easily the most closely contested Norwich game of the season, neither team led by four points at any time in the game. Owego took a 28-25 lead with 1:57 left on the third quarter after Katelyn Simpson hit a spot-up jumper from the left elbow following a feed from Jill Silvanic.