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IAC GIRLS BASKETBALL: WAVERLY BLOWS GAME OPEN LATE IN 66-48 WIN OVER TOWANDA; ADVANCES TO VALLEY CHRISTMAS TOURNEY FINALS (22 PHOTOS) (2019-12-27)

By TIM BIRNEY
Valley Sports Report
WAVERLY "” Waverly closed out the game with a 21-6 blitz to blow open a close contest in a 66-48 win over Towanda here Friday night in the opening round of the Valley Christmas Girls Basketball Tournament.

"All we ask is that the girls play with effort, and they show up with emotion, and both of those were here tonight," said Waverly coach Bob Kelly.

"When that happens, they feed off of it - it's contagious," he added. "They battled, and they didn't get down on themselves."

The Lady Wolverines jumped out to a 9-5 lead with 2:22 remaining in the first quarter, thanks to a trio of fast-break lay-ups created by their full-court press, but Towanda closed out the first eight minutes with a 6-0 spurt to take an 11-9 lead into the second quarter.

Waverly continued to create easy buckets with their defense, and consecutive baskets by seniors Gianna Picco and Paige Lewis gave the Lady Wolverines a 20-14 lead with 5:19 left in the first half.

Once again, however, Towanda rallied and tied the game at 22-22 with 49 seconds remaining in the second quarter.

Lewis scored on a putback with 35 seconds remaining, and moments later Picco turned a steal into a lay-up to give Waverly a 26-22 lead it would carry into the halftime locker room.

Kelly acknowledged Waverly's press was the most effective it's been all season.

"It's a new press, we just put it in. We worked on it (Thursday)," noted Kelly. "It's a variation of our other press, we just tweaked it a little bit.

"It's something we've had in our playbook, but it's the first time we've used it this year," he added. "It looked pretty good."

Towanda's Amanda Horton knocked down a pair of 3-pointers in the first 76 seconds of the third quarter to give the Lady Black Knights a 28-26 lead, but that would be their last lead of the game.

After a jumper by Lewis tied the game, freshman Kennedy Westbrook gave the Lady Wolverines the lead on a lay-up resulting from a steal and assist from Picco with 5:35 remaining in the third quarter.

After Erin Barrett tied the game at 30-30 with a putback on the offensive boards, Lewis connected on four consecutive free throws, junior Sidney Tomasso buried a 3-pointer, Gretchen Sowle scored on an offensive rebound, and sophomore Olivia Nittinger drained a 3-pointer in a 12-4 run that gave the Lady Wolverines a 42-34 lead with 2:02 left in the third quarter.

Towanda trimmed the deficit to 43-40, but Nittinger scored on a runner in the lane with 4 seconds left in the stanza to give Waverly a 45-40 lead heading into the final eight minutes.

Horton scored in the opening moments of the fourth quarter to trim Waverly's lead to 45-42, but Wheeler and Picco knocked down 3-pointers, sandwiched around a putback by Nittinger, who followed up her own miss, for an 8-0 run in 54 seconds to give Waverly a 53-42 lead with 6:50 left in the game.

Tomasso scored eight points down the stretch as the Lady Wolverines put the game away.

Kelly agreed that the Lady Wolverines wore down Towanda.

"We thought they would get tired," he said. "We wanted to play with pace - going in both directions, and I thought we did a good job of that."

Tomasso led a balanced Waverly attack with 17 points, while Lewis scored 15 points, Westbrook had 11 points, Picco had nine points, Nittinger added seven points, and senior Morgan Adams chipped in with five points.

"We got some good contributions from all over, and we need that," said Kelly. "Scoring has been difficult, so when we get those contributions it's very, very beneficial to us. It just opens up other things, it was was good to see."

Horton led Towanda with 13 points, while Ally Hurley and Barrett added eight points apiece.

Waverly will play Athens in the championship game at Athens Saturday at 6:30 p.m., while Towanda takes on Sayre in the consolation game at 2 p.m. at Sayre.

"”"”"”"”"”"”

IN PHOTO 1: Waverly's Sidney Tomasso. ... PHOTOS BY TIM BIRNEY.


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