Norwich’s Emma Urgo (White #3) plays fierce on defense against the Sabers (Photo by Morgan Golliver)

NORWICH – The Norwich Purple Tornado girls basketball team hosted Sus Valley on Thursday evening, where they looked promising in the second half but fell short 60-50.

Sus Valley led 33-24 at halftime before Norwich came out strong in the second half with multiple possessions, leading to momentum on offense. The Tornado also played aggressively on defense, including multiple blocks and stops made by Emma Urgo and Cameron VanHouten intercepting a few long passes.

Norwich scored 22 points in the third quarter alone, which allowed them to tie the game and take a short lead. Sus Valley went back into first half mode in the final eight minutes of play and collected offensive rebounds that helped them get the lead back and extend it with less than five minutes left.

The Tornado were shunned and could not return to the same rhythm they had in the third quarter and were held to four points in the final quarter.

Leading the way for Norwich was Olivia Schiraldi and Bella Dilorio with 11 points each. Dilorio was hot off the bench this time as she normally sees herself in the starting lineup. Josey Ryan and Emma Urgo both tied with eight points.

Norwich (3-6) will host Chenango Forks on Tuesday, January 10 at 7:15 p.m.

Scores by Quarter:

SV 23 10 11 16-60

NO 16 8 22 4–50

SV: A. MacNamee 14, G. Palmer 12, M. Adams 10, J. Ricci 6, B. Hagan 6, L. Lasiski 5, H. Brusso 3, M. Hoffman 2, H. Wamer 1, J. Clarke 1.

NO: Olivia Schiraldi 11, Bella Dilorio 11, Josey Ryan 8, Emma Urgo 8, Cameron VanHouten 7, Julia Llewellyn 3, Julie Turner 2.

Three-Pointers: SV 4 (Adams 3, Lasiski); NO 2 (Schiraldi, Llewellyn).