Girls’ Basketball

Unadilla Valley 53, Sherburne-Earlville 49

NEW BERLIN – Unadilla Valley coach Brandi Backus wondered how her team would react in a tight ballgame. She got her answer Monday night in the finals of Unadilla Valley Holiday Tournament.

The Storm rallied from 10 points down in the second half to defeat the Marauders for the first time in Backus’ tenure as head coach. The victory also avenged an early-season loss to S-E in the Marauders’ own tournament.

“We’ve had so many blowout games this, I didn’t know what to expect in a close game,” Backus said. “Coming back from 10 points, I think we handled it well.”

The Marauders trailed throughout the first half, but started the third quarter on a 12-2 spurt. Freshman Lilly Berg led the charge for S-E scoring 10 points in the third quarter, and after a Berg layup with 1:58 left in the third, her club took a 39-29 lead.

UV closed the gap back to three by the end of the stanza. Taylor Davis scored on a layup after a steal, and hit a three after a feed from Jordan Anderson to close the quarter.

The momentum for the Storm continued into the fourth, and reserve Hannah Lazarus’ layup tied the game at 42-42. UV took the lead for good on Amanda Off’s three-point play at the 3:01 mark, and Anderson along with Davis made four out of six free throws down the stretch to seal the win.