Oneida falls to Proctor in home opener

Though it held a high-scoring Utica Proctor squad to under 40points, the Oneida girls basketball team couldn't take advantage on offense, falling to its league foe 37-20on Thursday night.

ONEIDA >> The Oneida girls basketball team turned in its best defensiveeffort of the season on Thursday night, keeping a high-scoring Proctor team under 40 points.

Unfortunately its offense wasn’t able to capitalize.

The Raiders held Oneida to just five points in first half, eventually coming awaywith a 37-20 victory.

“We played great defense,” Nestler said. “We did a great job limiting them on their shots. Just not putting the ball in the basket hurt us tonight. Having two days off it was tough coming into a game like this.”

Both teams struggled to find their rhythm early in the first quarter, the lone points coming on a pair of free throws by Proctor’s Domizchelle Williams. After a Raider timeout, Ashante Smallwood sparked a 7-0 run to end the period.

Still looking for its first basket, Nestler’s squad struck first in the next period, cutting Proctor’s lead to 9-2 on a jumper by ZoeOlmstead. But the visitors got those points right back, piecing together another small scoring run to take a 17-2 advantage. Oneida again tried to rally, pulling to within 13 points after baskets byJillianBrodockandJenniferBrodock, butEmeraldPett answeredwitha basket ofher own to send the Raiders into halftime with a 20-5 lead.

“We talked about only being down 15 at halftime wasn’t the worst thing,” Nestler said. “We just had to take care of the basketball and try to get some easy shots for ourselves. Just looking to attack the basket a little more was our plan.”

Her players followed that perfectly after the break. Jennifer Brodock and Jillian Brodock combined for four more points, cutting Proctor’s advantage to 17 points at the end of the third quarter.

Still trailing 26-9, thehosts continued to battle back in the final period. Jennifer Brodock netted four consecutive points to make it a 3218 game with just over 2:00 left in regulation. But that 14-point deficit was the closest Nestler’s squad would get. Proctor scored four of the next six points to seal the win and improve to 3-0 in league play.

Oneida will look to rebound against Chittenango next Tuesday.

“We match up well with them,” Nestler said. “We’re just looking to just get our feet back under ourselves and pick up a win.”