By Keith Harrington
For three quarters of Friday night’s showdown between Corinth and Whitehall the game was everything it was expected to be. The fourth quarter proved to be the difference however as the Tomahawks reeled off a 9-1 run to pull away from the Railroaders 49-38 in Adirondack League girls basketball.
The defending champions lost a few key players to graduation including star guard Maddie DeLisle, but have not missed a beat, not losing a league contest in the last two seasons.
“We definitely lost a lot of seniors last year, but we had some core returners ready to fill in some different roles,” Corinth coach Kelly Hoertkorn noted.
Corinth was clinging to a 37-31 lead heading to the final stanza, but Whitehall could not buy a basket during the opening minutes. Meanwhile Emily Dingmon scored eight of her team’s 12 points down the stretch to guide the Tomahawks to victory.
Dingmon finished with a game-high 26 points, while smooth shooting freshman Whitney Cameron added 16. The pair combined for 22 of their team’s 25 second half points.
“We hit a spot where we didn’t hit any shots. And we didn’t go to the ball hard in spots,”Whitehall coach Boyd Hunt explained. “We need to go to the ball. We can’t wait for the ball to come to us.
In the first quarter it looked like it might be the prototypical Whitehall game. Both teams were flashing their defense with the Railroaders managing to grab a 9-7 advantage.
The rims began to loosen up in the second quarter as both teams settled down. Corinth scored the first five points of the frame to go up 12-9. An old fashioned 3-point play by Dingmon gave the Tomahawks an 18-11 lead. Corinth led 24-17 late in the quarter and was threatening to pull away before the break. A Samantha Howland bucket and Jayden Hughes trey cut the Whitehall deficit to 24-22 at the half.
In the third the game remained tight, but Dingmon and Cameron began to put the Tomahawks on their backs. The duo combined for all of their team’s points in the frame with the exception of a 3-pointer by Riley Dumas. Corinth led 37-31 after three.
“Emily did what she usually does,” Hoertkorn added. “She steps up every time. She’s such a great leader for us.”
Hunt’s team is known for their defensive prowess. The Railroaders are not a team that scores a ton of points. They are a grind it out type of team. Whitehall simply gave up too many points for their style of play.
“We’re going to struggle when it gets into the forties,” Hunt said. “We need to hold people in the low forties, high thirties. Especially a team like that. If we hold them to the high thirties or low forties we have a chance.”
Samantha Howland paced the Railroaders with 19 points. Madison Gould added seven and Jayden Hughes six.
The Tomahawks and Railroaders could see each other again in the Adirondack League championship game on February 10th.
“Hopefully we make the final four. I’m hoping we don’t have any slip ups or hiccups down the road. We need to keep working hard to get a chance at them again.
Corinth improved to 9-0, 11-1. Whitehall falls to 9-1, 11-3.