If people could bet on high school basketball, they would have wagered against the Cornwall girls at the start of the fourth quarter. The odds seemed to be against them.
After leading for most of the first game, the Lady Dragons had squandered an eight-point lead and had dropped into a 29-29 tie. They were running their plays proficiently, but the shots had stopped falling.
Of course, you know the end of the story. Cornwall beat Warwick, 43-32 on Saturday afternoon to claim the Section 9 crown and earn a berth in the state tournament.
Cornwall’s resurrection began with Norah Wingfield’s short range hook shot, which broke a long scoring drought and gave the Lady Dragons a one-point lead. Norah’s basket ignited the Cornwall fans, who were on their feet again as Gabby Shapiro forced a Warwick ball handler to step out of bounds.
The Dragons gained possession. And a moment later, Gabby was trapped in the corner, looking for a teammate. The Cornwall sophomore doesn’t shoot often. But with no one open, she had no choice. She launched a high-arcing shot that added to the Dragons’ lead. The opposing Wildcats never scored again.
Brooke Zimmer, with 15 points, was the Dragons’ top scorer. The victory extended Cornwall’s winning streak to 20 games and propelled the team into a match with Maine-Endwell in the state tournament. The game was played on Wednesday night after the Local went to press.
To earn the trip upstate, the Lady Dragons had to beat an imposing Warwick team for the third time this year. The key to all three victories was defense. In earlier playoff games, Cornwall beat Wallkill and Red Hook.
3 GAMES — Points: Zimmer 40, Wingfield 30, A. Malone 27, Bulusan 23, Shapiro 11, Dinnocenzio 5, C. Malone 6, Barbier 3, Panzanaro 3.
