UV’s Jaiden Schrag quickly takes the ball down the court. She led the Storm with 10 points on her birthday and celebrated the 28-26 win against Bainbridge-Guilford. (Photo by Morgan Golliver)

NEW BERLIN – It was a slow, but exciting game between the Unadilla Valley Storm and the Bainbridge-Guilford Bobcats girls’ basketball team on Wednesday night. The game was a defensive battle with both teams going back and forth in steals. UV, who was down by a small-margin throughout the contest, pushed ahead in the final seconds to earn the 28-26 victory.

B-G held a small advantage through the first two quarters of play, taking a brief 14-7 lead at halftime. The Bobcats’ lead was cut to three at the end of the third quarter as UV pushed through and powered a tough double-teamed defense. This defense caught B-G off guard, where they were forced to turn the ball over, which led to the Storm finding strength offensively.

When B-G tried to answer back with the same defensive force, they ran into foul troubles, sending the Storm to the line, especially Jaiden Schrag, who was consistent. Schrag, Adrienne Hodge,and Natalie Crandall led the charge in the final fourth quarter.

Hodge finally found room to knock down a three with under four minutes to put the Storm within one point. Schrag put UV up one, but B-G answered back shortly after. As the game winded down, UV had the ball with about 15 seconds remaining, where Natalie Crandall had the right footing above her defenders to make what was the game-winning basket. B-G couldn’t answer back in the final possession.

Jaiden Schrag, who celebrated her birthday, led the Storm with 10 points, going four-for-eight at the foul line, as Crandall settled in with eight points.

B-G’s Johnna Henderson was open offensively and finished with a team-high of 14 points and went back-and-forth with UV’s Emmalyn Montgomery in steals. Jayslin Henderson had six points in the loss.

UV (3-3) heads to Sidney on Friday at 7:15 p.m. while B-G (2-5) hosts their annual Holiday tournament, starting Wednesday, Dec 27 and running through Thursday the 28th.

Scores by quarter:

BG 8 6 8 4—26

UV 4 3 12 9—28

BG: Johnna Henderson 14, Jayslin Henderson 6, Tori Suda 2, Chandler Benjamin 2, Marissa Mayo 2.

UV: Jaiden Schrag 10, Natalie Crandall 8, Emmalyn Montgomery 5, Adrienne Hodge 3, Kora Johnson 2.

Three-pointers: B-G 0, UV 1 (Hodge)