The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
VVS girls topple Central Valley
Red Devils overcome a 10-point second half deficit for sectional victory
Vernon-Verona-Sherill was in a bad way at home in the opening round of the Section III Class B playoffs.
No. 13 Central Valley Academy had the No. 4 Red Devils on the ropes midway through the fourth quarter, taking a 4940 lead on a Reilly Rich jumper with 4:12 left in the game.
Then, in front of a boisterous crowd, the Red Devils made their move.
Morgan Brewer, smothered by the CVA defense all night, cashed in on her first 3-pointer to cut the deficit to six. Out of a timeout, the Thunder answered with a Savannah Sommer hoop, but Anna Rossi came right back with her own shot from beyond the arc to pull VVS within five at the 2:40 mark.
“I’m usually not a threepoint shooter because Morgan is always cashing them. But I knew we were down by a lot, and even during warmups I was kind of feeling it. I don’t know what, maybe it was something I ate,” Rossi grinned. “It just happened.”
The Red Devils struck again moments later when Alexa Kiser stole a pass and fed Brewer for an easy lay-in under- neath. After an empty CVA possession, Brewer pulled the hosts within a point on an offensive rebound and put-back with 58 seconds left on the clock.
Rossi came up huge for the Red Devils on the next CVA possession, pickpocketing a Thunder ball handler and jetting down the court for the bucket and a foul with 16 seconds left to the delight of the VVS crowd.
“I knew if Morgan [Brewer] got on her right side, sweep her and go,” Rossi said, breaking down the theft.
“That was a huge momentum boost for us because we had been down the whole game.
Heads were down,” Kiser added of the play. “That was a just a, ‘Let’s go, we got this’ play.”
After Rossi’s foul shot rimmed out, CVA had an opportunity for the goahead bucket, but Kiser came up with a huge block on a Sommer before collecting the ball and careening down the court.
“I had to just jump or put my hand up or get a hand on the ball. It went my way, and I didn’t get called for the foul. It was pretty exciting,” Kiser said.
“I told [ Kiser] going into that final minute and a half, ‘Listen, we have to have your right now. Whatever end, we need you on whatever end,” VVS coach Randy Thomas said of Kiser’s stand on defense. “She came up with a big block, and that is a situation where she is going to try her best defensively.”
Kiser, VVS’ latest 1,000 point scorer, sunk three of four foul shots in the final ten seconds to ice the game and ensure her side the 5551 victory.
Kiser finished with 15 points, 21 rebounds and five blocks; Brewer netted a team-high 16 points, adding 13 rebounds for the doubledouble, and Rossi followed with 11 points and three assists. Senior Lindsey Foster added 10 points and four rebounds for VVS in the win.
CVA freshman Savannah Moore tied senior Abby Brown for a game-high 17 points in the loss. In total, the pair combined for seven makes from long range, five of them coming in the first half to help CVA take control of the contest early.
The win marks the third time this season that VVS has gotten the better of its TVL Pioneer foe.
“They always say you never want to play a team three times, and I told the girls, ‘If we play the way we’re capable of playing, we’re going to win the game,’” Thomas said. “But CVA came out and played their hearts out...” I give CVA and [coach] Jane [Connors] a lot of credit.”
VVS advances to a second round matchup against No. 12 Cazenovia on Tuesday, Feb. 19. The tilt will mark the second time in two years that Cazenovia travels to VVS for a sectional bout.
“It wasn’t really our best game, and we know that. We missed a lot of easy shots. Coming Sunday and Monday practices, we just have to work harder. Make our easy layups and just have fun and push through it,” Rossi said of what Friday’s game could do for VVS as it navigates the Class B bracket.