BINGHAMTON – For the first time in several years, the Lady Purple Tornado come home with a victory from Seton Catholic. Thursday night’s STAC divisional showdown ended with Norwich on top in the 57-51 final score.

The Tornado never trailed at the end of a quarter, clinging to a small lead as every time they made a run, the Saints came fighting back.

Norwich held a 26-23 lead at the end of the first half and held the same margin as the two teams headed into the final quarter of play.

In the fourth, the Purple went on a 6-0 offensive scoring spurt as just 30 seconds ticked off the clock. The small run came from the aggressive and pressuring full-court defense that Norwich has used against teams all season.

Facing two of the toughest forwards in Section IV, Norwich knew they were going to have their hands full with Seton’s Marina Maerkl and Julia Hauer. Both of the Saints have signed their letters of the intent to play college basketball next season with Markel heading to a division-II program and Hauer will become a member of the Siena Saints roster, a division-I NCAA program.

Maerkl finished the with 19 points to lead all scorers in the contest while Hauer tallied 15 but have known to put up big numbers in the past against Norwich.

The two were held in check by the Tornado’s defensive effort of Saige Benedict, Abby Flynn, Emily Evans and Nicole Jeffrey.