Girls Basketball: Seneca fights back to top Newark, 43-36

SENECA — There are two things that can happen to a basketball team when it has played catch up for a majority of a game and finally gets back to even.

It can either eventually fall short due to using so much energy to fight back, or as was the case for the Seneca girls squad in Thursday night’s contest against Newark, it can find there is plenty spirit left in the tank.

The Fighting Irish, after taking a quick 2-0 advantage, trailed the visiting Norsemen for exactly 20 minutes of game clock before grabbing the lead for good early in the fourth quarter on the way to a 43-36 victory.

Seneca (8-5) used a 6-0 run to end the third period to get within one point, then used back-to-back 3-pointers from freshman Alyssa Zellers and junior Kennedy Hartwig, the latter from well beyond the arc to give the hosts the lead for good and start a game-changing 11-0 burst.

Hartwig finished with a team-best 13 points to go along with five rebounds and five assists. Zoe Hougas added 10 points, five rebounds and three steals, with Zellers and Emma Smith (six rebounds, three steals) chipping in eight points each.

“I thought a big key was Emma being able to play with four fouls as long as she did,” said Seneca coach Brian Holman about his senior forward who picked up her fourth foul midway into the third before finally fouling out with just over a minute to play. “She is our one true post player and we need her on the floor. Kennedy really held us in it and made a big 3 to give us a ton of momentum, but I also thought the two 3s by Alyssa Zellers in the second half both came at crucial times for us.”

“All that I wrote on the board at halftime was the word discipline. We were out of sorts tonight for long stretches, but Newark is a good team and they had something to do with that too. We were able to make a few shots there at the end, competed, and were able to close things out.”

Newark (6-3), which was paced by 14 points off the bench by Emily DiClementi, Kellie Snyder’s nine points and 10 rebounds, and KJ Friestad’s eight points and six rebounds, outscored the hosts 13-4 in the second quarter after the teams had played to an 8-8 deadlock after a turnover-filled first frame.

“I thought we played a great fist half holding them to 12 points,” said Newark coach P.J. McKinney, his team also holding Seneca to 23% shooting in the opening half and forcing 18 turnovers. “I thought Kellie Synder and Lindsey Hatteberg did a fantastic job guarding Hartwig, but kids like that are going to get their points and more times than not find a way to make a big play or big shot. I thought Hartwig’s 3 really energized their whole team and we just couldn’t match them on the scoreboard after that.”

Newark held a 28-21 margin after seven straight points by Snyder, the final three on an and-1 with 3 minutes, 3 seconds left in the third. Seneca answered with a drive by Hartwig, a layup by Smith and a scoop shot by Hougas to get within 28-27 heading to the final eight minutes.

Following Zellers aforementioned triple, a drive from Kailey Wohead tied the contest at 30-all, before Hartwig splashed a trey, followed by consecutive buckets by Smith, a drive by Hartwig and two free throws by Hoguas pushed the lead to 41-30 with under four minutes to go.

“We struggled hanging on to the ball against their full-court press, but I’ sure many teams do because they are good at what they do,” said McKinney, his club ending with 29 miscues. “We need to be smarter on the offensive end and that comes from playing together. We were able to break their pressure a few times and converted layups off of 2-on-1s, but we just weren’t able to break the press consistently enough throughout the game.”