The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Oneida beats Notre Dame
Lusher lifts Oneida past TVL foe Notre Dame
A road game against a league opponent is a tough way to open the season.
Watching that opponent erase an 10-point first half deficit complicated matters even more, but Oneida shook off a late comeback attempt by Tri-Valley League foe Utica Notre Dame to earn a 43-37 opening night victory.
“A win is a win,” Oneida coach Katie Nestler said. “With a shortened season and a snow day yesterday, we came out and didn’t have it to begin with. We were taking a lot of quick shots and over-dribbling ... right now with getting things together, we have to play defense better throughout the entire game.”
Sydney Lusher led the way for Oneida in the victory, impacting the game on both ends of the court. The junior guard led all scorers with 16 points, adding eight rebounds, seven assists, and eight blocks. Ella Rainbow and Kaylin Curro joined Lusher in double figures for Oneida, posting 13 and 11 points respectively.
Caitlin Snyder paced Notre Dame with 15 points in the defeat.
Following a turnover-filled sequence in the first twominutes of the contest, Notre Dame took the first lead on a Hayley Heffernan layup. Oneida shook off the slow
start to go on a 9-0 run midway through the first. Rainbow scored the first four points for her side before Curro drained a 3-pointer off a Lusher assist to help the visitors out to a 9-2 lead. Serenity Brothers put an end to the Oneida run with a bucket in the paint, but a Rainbow lay-in and another Curro make from beyond the arc helped Oneida take a 14-5 lead after one.
The Jugglers cut Oneida’s lead to 19-16 with less than 10 seconds to go in the first half on a Snyder post move for the score, but a quick outlet from Lusher to Rainbow, who in turn found a wide open Grace Coulter for a layup just before the buzzer, gave Nestler’s side a 21-16 lead at the intermission.
Out of the break, Notre Dame used an 8-3 run, highlighted by back-toback treys by Franchesca Lo Conti and Ajla Sejdic, to take its first lead since the opening minutes of the contest, 26-24.
Rainbow answered with a mid-range jumper for Oneida, but Sejdic buried another long-range shot from the top of the arc to push the Jugglers back up 29-28 midway through the third. Lusher made sure the hosts’ lead was short-lived. After a mid-range make, Lusher buried a step-back 3-pointer for a 33-29 Oneida lead. Following a Juggler miss, Lusher capped her outburst with a coast-tocoast runner. Curro split a pair of tries from the free throw line to close the quarter with Oneida up 36-29.
The Jugglers continued to make things interesting in the final quarter of play, using three straight makes from Snyder on the offensive end to pull within a point at 38-37 and prompt an Oneida timeout with 2:13 left in the game. Out of the stoppage, Lusher gave her side some breathing room with a bucket in the post. Curro came up with a big steal for Oneida on the defensive end on the ensuing possession, and the visitors turned that into a 41-37 lead off a Lusher free throw.
With Notre Dame uncomfortably close, Oneida amped up the defensive pressure across the final 1:30 of play. A jump ball ended Notre Dame’s ensuing offensive possession. Oneida turned the ball over on the inbounds play, but Curro picked off a Notre Dame pass immediately after for another steal.
The Jugglers quickly regained possession and called a timeout with 58 seconds left, still trailing by four. Oneida hounded the ensuing Juggler inbounds play, forcing a five second call and turnover. Off the turnover, Rainbow fed Curro for a lay-in to extend Oneida’s lead to 43-37.
With 38 seconds left, Notre Dame called a timeout to set up an inbounds play, but Oneida was able to get a piece of two separate passes, each time tipping the ball deep into the back court and burning clock. One final Juggler timeout ensued with 16 seconds left, but Lusher forced a jump ball for yet another inbound attempt before Curro came up with her fourth theft of the night to close out the 43-37 victory.
“The last minute-anda-half, how we played defense, if we can play that way all year, it’s a different story,” Nestler said of her team’s last-minute stand. “I think we just have to lock in more on defense. Our defense is going to lead to our offense. Once that gets going, it is going to be a lot of fun to watch.”
Oneida returns to action at home against Westhill on Friday, Dec. 6.