It was beginning to look like dire straits for Norwin not even three minutes into its girls basketball matchup with first-place Canon-McMillan on Friday.
The Big Macs jumped out to an 11-point lead after Madison Clair hit her team’s second 3-pointer of the game. For better or for worse, though, this wasn’t unfamiliar territory for Norwin.
“It’s a long game,” Knights coach Brian Brozeski said, “and unfortunately, we’ve had a bad trend of starting off slow.
“So it’s not waters that we haven’t swam in before, but it was something that we don’t want to put ourselves in. But I told the girls, man, how they battled back — that’s priceless right there.”
Resiliency was key as Norwin (10-1, 3-1 Section 2-6A) won 56-52 after erasing a 12-1 first-quarter deficit and a six-point fourth-quarter deficit to defeat Canon-McMillan (10-3, 3-1).
With the victory, the Knights, who have won four straight against the Big Macs, are atop the section.
After Clair’s 3-pointer, Norwin stormed back, ending the quarter on a 14-2 run to take a 15-14 lead. Aubrey Graney scored all eight of her points during that run.
In the second, the game’s frenetic pace settled down, with neither side leading by more than four points.
Surprisingly, freshman guard Giuliana Giannikas was the steady hand for the Knights. She only had two points in the second quarter, but her defensive intensity and paint penetration kept Norwin close to Canon-McMillan through the quarter.
In the final five seconds of the half, Faye Saunders (15 points, 13 rebounds and two blocks) grabbed an offensive rebound off a missed free throw. She found Clair (16 points, four rebounds) under the basket for a layup to beat the buzzer and give Canon-McMillan a 26-24 lead entering the locker room.
Midway through the third, Kylie Rodkey made a 3-pointer to give Norwin a 34-31 lead. But that was the last of the scoring for the Knights. Canon-McMillan closed the quarter on a 9-0 run behind seven points from Clair and Saunders in the final 3:57. Olivia Ross capped the scoring run with a step-back 2 to give the Big Macs a 40-34 lead entering the fourth.
Three minutes into the final quarter, Canon-McMillan was barely holding onto a four-point lead. After Ross was called for a foul, Giannikas scored a layup, sparking an 8-0 run for the Knights.
Nia O’Barto hit a 3, and then Giannikas turned defense into offense, getting a steal on one end and hitting a step-back 3 to give Norwin a 47-43 advantage. As the tug-of-war continued down the stretch, the Knights turned to Graney to stamp the comeback win.
The sophomore guard beat the first line of defense and got to the basket. With the defense swarming, though, she kicked it out to Lenyn Brozeski for a 3 to give Norwin a 52-46 lead with 50 seconds left.
“What’s great about Aubrey’s game is if you watch the game and understand what’s being done, you realize what all she is doing for you,” Brian Brozeski said.
“The score doesn’t tell everything. … The points are great, don’t get me wrong, but when she controls the game, that’s even better for us. And I thought Aubrey did a great job of that for four quarters.”
Even though Norwin struggled from the free-throw line down the stretch, O’Barto (18 points and five rebounds) and Giannikas (12 points and four assists) made enough of them to seal the Knights the victory. Liz Yarosik was the last double-digit scorer for the Knights with 10.
Norwin won’t have much time celebrating Friday’s win, though, as it will face Class 5A South Fayette (13-1) on Saturday.
“We got a tough turnaround tomorrow, so this was a nice win, but in less than 24 hours, we’re going to be playing South Fayette,” Brian Brozeski said. “So we can’t be celebrating too much because we got a tough one there, and every game is independent. It’s a great win. It’s a nice win for us, but it means obviously nothing. It’s just one. Do you know what I mean? So we got to get back to work and keep improving.”