Robert Jeffrey

Sun Sports Contributor

sports@evesun.com

 UTICA – It took the opening quarter for the Purple Tornado to thaw out their offense as Norwich used a second half push to overtake Holland Patent 50-46 in the first round of the Utica Notre Dame Juggle Classic.

The opening game of the tournament between the Golden Knights and Purple Tornado was slow to start, but nevertheless still managed to withhold an exciting finish late in the game.

The Golden Knights took a commanding 8-0 lead midway through the opening quarter. With three minutes remaining, Norwich’s Sydney Coggins drained a three pointer to open the scoring for the Purple. Add in a Hailey Colabelli free-throw and the score stood at 8-4 in advantage of the Golden Knights.

The second quarter held trouble for the Tornado as costly fouls sent the Golden Knights to the foul line 15 times, with nine of those attempts dropping through the net, compling for half of Holland Patent’s scoring total in the stanza.

With starters Taylor Hansen, Abby Flynn, and Saige Benedict facing foul trouble right before the recess, the Tornado bench provided some much needed relief. Colabelli, Coggins, and Nicole Jeffrey each played their role perfectly as all gave a much needed defensive relief off the bench, while Jeffrey and Colabelli controlled the rebounding department. Offensively, Halea Eaton aided with six points in the quarter- making up for one third of Norwich’s points in the period.