Girls' Basketball

Norwich 41, Oneonta 35

NORWICH – Norwich junior Savannah Williams quashed Oneonta's upset bid hitting four free throws in the final 30 seconds to seal the Purple Tornado's 14th win of the season Friday night.

Norwich saw its double-digit lead evaporate in the third and fourth quarters as the Yellowjackets turned the game into a physical scrap with copious amounts of turnovers, loose ball scrambles, and players hitting the deck scrapping for every possession.

"It definitely was a rough game," said Norwich coach Josh Bennett. "Oneonta did a great job of making the game ugly, which was to their advantage. I was very happy that we made big plays when we needed to."

In the end, Norwich made just enough plays to survive.

After six straight points by Norwich's Shelby Benjamin to start the third, Norwich was cruising with a 27-11 advantage. The margin was quickly whittled down after an 11-0 Oneonta run over the final four minutes of the quarter to make it a five-point game entering the fourth.

After back-to-back Norwich turnovers with under three minutes to play, Oneonta took its only lead of the second half when Madison Miller powered up a shot over Norwich's Meghan Komendarek for the 34-33 advantage with 2:05 to play.

Norwich countered on the next possession when Komendarek grabbed an offensive rebound off a Makenzie Maynard miss, and put back the layup giving Norwich the lead for good.