The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Oneida rains 3’s in coach’s 100th win
Nestler earns 100th career win, Lusher ties program mark
A little bit of history was made at William K. Fariel Gymnasium Wednesday night.
On the same night head coach Katie Nestler recorded her 100th career victory, junior guard Sydney Lusher tied the program’s single-game mark for made 3-pointers in a decisive 61-39 victory over Holland Patent.
Nestler, unaware of the coaching milestone until her team surprised her with a banner, was quick to defer credit.
“It’s just a reflection of the coaches in my program that have come through and all the players. Those 100 wins are for them. They accomplished them, and it was honor to have it here on our home court tonight,” Nestler said. “I grew up in Oneida. I work in Oneida. I love Oneida. It means a lot to me to come through here as a basketball player and now to come back and coach female athletes.”
Oneida was dialed in from distance. Sydney Lusher (7), Ella Rainbow (4), and Kaylin Curro (3) combined to go 14-23 from beyond the arc in Oneida’s fourth straight victory.
Lusher led all scorers with 25 points, tying the school mark shared by her coach and former teammate Lauren Skibitski with 7 long-range makes. The junior guard added 7 rebounds, 7 assists, 7 steals, and 3 blocks.
“Just team effort. Wewere passing the ball around,” Lusher said of Oneida’s hot shooting. “In the beginning, we weren’t knocking down shots, but once we got going and started moving, cutting, passing... we just started hitting.”
Rainbow closed the evening with 16 points, 3 assists, and 3
steals. Curro followed with 13 points, adding 8 assists and 6 steals.
Despite the offensive onslaught, Nestler credited her team’s defense to the 4-0 start.
“Our first four games of the season, we’ve won those games because of defense,” Nestler said. “We say defense leads to offense, and when we are all firing on all cylinders, following our game plan, and getting tips on balls, we can get out and run and make good things happen.
“Defense wins basketball games, and right now that’s key for us,”
Haedyn Roberts led the Holland Patent attack with 12 points, and teammate Hannah Corrigan added 9 more.
Up 15-7 early in the second quarter, Oneida went on an 11-2 run to take control of the contest. Lusher threaded a pass to Rainbow for a corner 3-pointer to spark the run. Rainbow sunk a mid-range jumper on the hosts’ next score before returning the favor and feeding Lusher for a triple from the top of the arc to grow the advantage to 237. Roberts broke up the Oneida spurt with a pair of makes from the foul line, but the hosts responded in impressive fashion, working the ball around the perimeter with quick passes until Curro spotted Lusher open at the top of the arc for another long-range make near the 3:00mark for a 26-9 advantage.
At the half, Oneida boasted a 29-11 advantage.
The momentum swung briefly in favor of the visitors out of the break as Holland Patent opened the third on a 6-0 run, capped by a Hanna Corrigan floater in the lane to pull the Golden Knights within 12 at 29-17.
It was as close as the visitors would get the rest of the way. Oneida scored on its next four possessions, each bucket coming off an assist as the hosts continued to showcase impressive ball movement.
Jordan French hit Lusher with a pass at the top of the arc, and Oneida’s junior floor general skipped a pass to Curro in the corner for a trey. Seconds later, Rainbow-fired a pass to Curro for another corner 3-pointer. Then, Rainbow collected the ball after a Grace Coulter deflection on the defensive end and heaved the ball to Lusher for a fast-break layup before French snuck a pass to Mikah Albro for a baseline make. In less than three minutes, Oneida ballooned its lead up to 39-17.
“It’s a lot of fun to watch these girls when they play together. When we have constant ball movement and are just hitting the open player, it makes the game have a better tempo for us,” Nestler said. “So ball movement was key, especially in the second quarter and coming back at end of the third quarter. We did a nice job of moving the ball and hitting the open player. We say all the time, ‘We before me.’ That’s our philosophy going in, and we did a nice job of that tonight.”
After HP closed the third with back-to-back scores to cut the Oneida lead to 3923, Nestler’s crew continued to click on offense in the final period. Lusher drained a corner 3 off a Curro assist, and following a traveling call on HP, Lusher set Rainbow up for a 3-point make. On Oneida’s next score, Lusher drove left and kissed a shot home off the backboard to extend the lead to 47-23. After a visitor miss, Curro fired a long outlet pass to Rainbow for another 3-pointer to cap an 11-0 Oneida run to open the final quarter of play.
An offensive rebound and putback by Emily Carlson and mid-range jumper by Corrigan ended Oneida’s run midway through the period. Lusher’s hot shooting continued, however. The junior guard nailed backto-back triples to extend the lead to 56-27 and after a Corrigan layup, Lusher buried one final 3-ball to tie the program’s single-game mark of made 3-pointers.
“Syd’ has always been a great shooter. This year, she has decided to become more of a shooter and that is what we have been looking for from her since she started here in Oneida as an 8th grader. She’s looking to set up her teammates, but she is also looking for her own shots when available. She is doing a nice job of deciding when and where to take her shots. She was a little cold early, and she came back and hit a lot of deep shots.”
Oneida closed with a 6139 victory to move to 4-0 on the season prior to its next game against rival Vernon-Verona-Sherrill on Wednesday, Dec. 18.
“Just keep playing as a team. When we take selfish shots, we usually don’t make them so we just have to pass it around and get up the floor,” Lusher said. “[Defense] is very important. We get up the floor very well, so if we can get steals and rebounds, we can push it up and get easy layups.”