CONKLIN – Norwich’s road to the Sectional Championship took a turn for the worse last night as they succumbed to a defeat against one of their main rivals and competitors for the title, Susquehanna Valley, on a score line of 67-52. SV are the defending Class B State Champions.

“Overall, it was a nightmare game for us. Everything that could go wring, went wrong,” said Tornado head coach Josh Bennett. “We have to play our best against the best and tonight was definitely not our best.”

Down by as many as 20 points midway through the third quarter, things began to look grim for the Tornado. “We just said to the girls that we have to go for broke,” said Bennett. “We put on our own press and started to make them (SV) uncomfortable on offense. They started to get passive and tentative and we got right back into the game.”

Led by their top scorer on the night, Makenzie Maynard, Norwich brought the deficit down to just five points in the fourth quarter. Maynard had nine of her 17 points in the quarter.

“To be honest, I think my kids ran out of gas,” said Bennett. “SV kind of ‘righted the ship’ defensively and once again we got ourselves in a situation where we didn’t value the ball for a short stint. That turned the tables on us.”