By Keith Harrington
When Adirondack League coaches knew that Corinth’s Emily Dingmon was going to still be recovering from a severe knee injury to begin the season they had to feel like they had an opportunity to seize control of the title race. There was only one glitch in the plan. Someone forgot to tell the rest of the River Hawks.
Dingmon returned to a team that was unbeaten in league play and has continued to improve since. Friday night Corinth took a giant step toward earning the number one seed in the ADK championship tournament with a convincing 50-35 road win over Hartford at the Ella Colvin Gym.
Corinth came into the contest still perfect in league play. The Tanagers had only a loss to Warrensburg on their ledger.
Alawnah Dunda scored the first basket of the night to give the Tanagers a 2-0 lead. Baskets by Dingmon and Whitney Cameron gave the River Hawks a 4-2 edge and Hartford never saw the lead again. A Cailin Severance 3-pointer got the Tanagers within 8-5, but Dingmon reeled off a personal 8-0 run to make it 16-5 after a quarter.
Dingmon finished with a game-high 23 points.
“They’re aggressive. They’re quick. And Dingmon is a superstar,” Hartford coach Jason Johnson said following the game. “They’re physical and they want the ball, and that’s a good thing for them.”
Hartford tried their best to stay close in the second stanza. A trey by McKenzie Johnson sliced their deficit to 16-8, but the Tanagers never got closer. The River Hawks took a 27-15 lead to halftime.
The third quarter proved to be the difference in the game. A 7-0 spurt increased Corinth’s lead to 33-17. The River Hawks outscored the Tanagers 12-3 the rest of the period as the lead ballooned to 45-20.
Hartford closed the game on a 7-0 run but the deficit was too large to recover from.
“We might see them in the Adirondack League title game, but if not I don’t see them again until next year,” Johnson said. “We’ve go bigger goals. We’ve got Class D we’re looking at right now,” Johnson explained referring to the upcoming sectionals.
Whitney Cameron added 14 points for Corinth.
Johnson led the Tanagers with 12 points. Raeghan Liebig chipped in eight, Dunda six, and Severance five.
Corinth improved to 7-0, 10-2. Hartford dropped to 6-2, 9-4.
Photo Credit-Lori Severance