NORWICH – Norwich's girls' basketball put on the defensive clamps shutting down Waverly in a 52-28 Section IV Class B sectional semifinal victory Tuesday night at Jack Jones Gymnasium.

The victory set up a potential third straight Section IV championship as Norwich will play Chenango Valley Sunday, March 6 at 4 p.m. at Visions Memorial Arena.

"We really did a good job (tonight) of controlling the pace of the game," said Norwich coach Josh Bennett. The Tornado won section titles in 2019 and 2020, but the 2021 championships were postponed. "When we wanted to run, we ran. But when we wanted to play a slow, controlled offense, we did, and executed our offense very well."

Norwich led 28-16 at halftime, but put the lights out on the Wolverines' victory hopes with a big third quarter.

Emily Evans hit a 3 for Norwich (15-6) in the opening minute of the third quarter to set the momentum, and Cameron Van Houten added another 3 on the Tornado's next possession.

By the end of the third quarter, Norwich extended its 12-point halftime lead to 47-19.

Evans scored nine of her game-high 18 points during the stanza, and Van Houten had five of her 10 points.

"We finally got our offense going in the third quarter," Bennett said.

With the reserves seeing much of the court time in the fourth quarter, Norwich's defense did not allow Waverly to reach 20 points in the game until the midway point of the fourth quarter, Bennett said.

Waverly:  Addison Westbrook 6, Kennedy Westbrook 9, R. Judson 1, A. Daddona 2, A. Croft 3, O. Nittinger 2, Payton Shaw 5. Totals: FG-8, FT 10-29-28.

Norwich (15-6):  Maddy Morris 2, Olivia Schiraldi 4, Emily Evans 18, Devin Flanagan 4, Margaret Dougher 8, Cameron Van Houten 10, Mackenzie Hess 3, Julia Llewellyn 3. Totals:  FG-15, FT 14-22-52.

Score by Quarters

Wav.  11   5   3    9--28

NHS   13   15   19  5--52

Three-point goals: Waverly 1 (A. Westbrook). Norwich 8 (Evans 2, Van Houten 2, Llewellyn, Hess, Schiraldi, Dougher).