Frank Speziale Photo

NORWICH – The Lady Purple Tornado used their gritty, intense full-court press to grind out a 64-52 win over the Seton Catholic Saints in a basketball Monday premier matchup.

The victory gave Norwich their third win of the year against the Saints to make it a clean sweep of the season series of contests between the two teams.

The Purple Tornado’s full-court pressure created their offense for most of the game but when put into a half-court situation during the contest, the home team rarely came away with an empty possession as they moved the ball to find the open player.

“Seton has a way of turning games with us into real grind-it-out type games,” said Norwich head coach Josh Bennett. “I thought we were a little stagnate offensively at times but we grinded out turnovers on defense and turned them into offense.”

The Saints matched the Norwich tempo at times throughout the four quarters of play, breaking the pressure down and finishing at the rim.

The Tornado trailed 10-7 early in the first quarter but the next two possessions down the floor ended with a 3-point bucket, the first made by Triniti Myers from the right corner that was followed by Halea Eaton’s long ball from the wing on the same side.

By the end of the first quarter, Norwich took a five point lead and never lost the advantage again.