STAC GIRLS BASKETBALL: WAVERLY FURIOUS COMEBACK BID FALLS SHORT IN 49-47 LOSS TO FORKS (24 PHOTOS) (2025-02-05)
By TIM BIRNEYValley Sports ReportWAVERLY — Waverly trailed by 13 with 3:03 remaining in the game, but had a chance for a game-winning shot in the final seconds of a 49-47 loss to Chenango Forks here Wednesday night in STAC Central Division girls basketball action.
"There's no quit in this team," said Waverly coach Bob Kelly. "They play extremely hard, they get after it, they don't hang their heads, and they move on to the next task.
"They keep working trying to get the W, tonight it didn't work out for us," he added.
With a win, Waverly would have clinched a division title, but now are tied atop the division with Forks.
"We're tied now," said Kelly. "We have a couple tough games left, so we have to forget about this one."
Junior Kaitlyn Sutton knocked down a pair of 3-pointers in the first quarter, and sophomore Ryleigh Judson scored five points, including a 3-pointer, but Forks answered in turn and the teams were tied at 13-all after the opening stanza.
Forks opened a five-point lead with a 5-0 spurt to start the second quarter, but 6-2 standout Maggie Warpus, who will play at D-I Buffalo next year, picked up her third foul midway through the stanza.
Waverly reeled off seven straight points, including buckets by senior Addison Westbrook and sophomore Makenzie Olmsted — both off steals and breakaway lay-ups, and Sutton, who scored on a putback, to give the Wolverines a 20-18 lead with 1:19 remaining in the half.
Forks tied the game with a pair of free throws with 1:09 remaining, and the game went into the halftime locker room tied at 20-all.
Forks scored the first three points of the second half to take a 23-20 lead, but Olmsted turned another steal into a lay-up, and then made one of two free throws to tie the game at 23-23 with 6:54 left in the third quarter.
Forks scored the next six points, a run capped by a Warpus runner in the lane, to make it 29-23 with 5:32 left in the stanza.
About a minute later, with the score, 31-25, Warpus picked up her fourth foul.
Waverly, however, failed to capitalize and Forks closed the quarter with an 8-4 spurt to take a 39-29 lead.
The Blue Devils stretched their lead to 13 points, at 46-33, with 5 minutes remaining before Warpus returns.
"We gave up way too many easy buckets inside, too many second-chance buckets," said Kelly.
"We lost some players we shouldn't have, our rotations weren't quite there," he noted.
"We kind of hurt ourselves in that situation, you obviously are looking to gain on them with (Warpus) out of the game," added Kelly.
Forks led 48-35 when Sutton drained a 3-pointer with 3:02 left in the contest to close the gap to 48-38.
After a Forks turnover, Westbrook made it 48-40 with a short jumper.
The Wolverines missed out on a couple of opportunities to pull closer but Judson's reverse lay-up with 1:19 remaining made it 48-42.
Moments later, while saving a ball from going out-of-bounds under the Waverly basket, Judson flipped the ball over her shoulder and it found its way into Westbrook's hands for a point-blank shot to make it 48-44 with 50 seconds remaining.
The Blue Devils were whistled for an offensive foul just nine seconds later, but the Wolverines suffered the same fate on an in-bounds play under their bucket with 27 seconds remaining.
Forks made a free throw with 24 seconds left to push the lead to 49-44, but on the ensuing trip down the floor, Judson pulled up and drained a deep 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 49-47 with 17 seconds remaining.
After a quick foul, Forks missed a pair of free throws, and Waverly rebounded.
After a Waverly timeout moved the ball to the front court for the Wolverines, Judson took the in-bounds pass, but Warpus' defense kept her from getting off a good shot, and the Blue Devils secured the win.
The Wolverines made just 6 of 20 free-throw attempts in the game, while the Blue Devils made 12 of 21.
"It's a season-long thing," said Kelly of his team's woes from the charity stripe. "We only shoot about 20 percent from the line."
Judson led Waverly with 15 points, including a pair of 3-pointers, while Sutton, who knocked down three 3-pointers, scored 14 points, Westbrook added 10 points, and Olmsted chipped in with five points.
Lauren Paske led Forks with 15 points, while Mari Pourby scored 11 points, and Warpus was limited to nine points.
Waverly falls to 14-2 on the season, and 9-1 in league play. Forks is 12-5, 10-1.
The Wolverines return to action Saturday afternoon when they host Owego.
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IN PHOTO 1: Waverly's Kaitlyn Sutton. IN TOP PHOTO: Waverly's Addison Westbrook. ... PHOTOS BY TIM BIRNEY.
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