Short-handed Norwalk pulls away for win

ASHLAND — Midway through the fourth quarter, things were up in air for the short-handed Norwalk girls basketball team. Playing without its top returning player in the season opener — junior guard Abby Koenig — the Truckers held a slim 44-43 lead with just over four minutes left in the fourth quarter at host Ashland. But Norwalk dug in, as it outscored the Arrows 12-3 down the stretch to claim a 56-46 non-league win. Koenig suffered a broken nose and was held out, but could be back when the team returns to the court for a non-league game on Dec. 5 vs. New London. "We overcame a lot of inexperience and first-game jitters," Norwalk head coach Brock Manlet said. "But when it got down to crunch time, we found a way to get some stops and hit clutch free throws when we had to." After Ashland scored on a runner in the lane, Lucy Schlotterer was fouled and made two free throws for the Truckers with 4:02 remaining in the game. Norwalk then got a huge steal and layup from sophomore Trinity Lazzara to extend the lead to 48-43, and the Arrows got no closer. Junior Kenzie Smith as fouled and split a pair of free throws on two consecutive trips, extending the Norwalk lead to 50-43. After a Norwalk steal, Manlet had his team pull the ball out to work the clock. Smith was fouled again and made them both to extend the lead to 52-43. Kennedy Lacey converted a three-point play for the Arrows with under a minute to go, but again Smith was fouled and made two free throws. With 25 seconds left, Lazzara was also fouled and made both free throws for the final margin. "I'm proud of my team to come on the road against a scrappy team with some good talent and grind out a win," Manlet said. The Truckers led 24-21 at halftime and led by as much as 32-25 after senior Hailey Rinner made a 3 and scored on an easy wide-open layup off a pass from Smith. But Arrows' freshman Cienna Steury made her fourth 3 of the game, and Madison Hoffman scored off a Norwalk miss to make it a 32-30 game with 305 left in the third quarter. Ashland then tied the game on a long jumper from Grace Tobias at the 2:20 mark, and it also had a chance to take the lead but came up empty. The Arrows then grabbed a 34-33 lead, but sophomore Delaney Illuzzi scored off an assist from Smith as the Truckers took a 35-34 lead into the fourth quarter. Norwalk then got a 3-pointer from Lazzara to being the fourth (38-34), but Lacey converted another three-point play at the other end to keep it a one-point game. Smith rebounded her own shot for a basket and a 40-37 lead at the other end, and freshman Alyssa Gruhlke scored off a rebound to make it 42-37. She later scored off an assist from her sister, junior Shyla Gruhlke, for a 44-38 lead. But back came the Arrows with five straight points to make it 44-43 before the Truckers closed it out. In the first half, Norwalk played from in front the entire time, but never did pull away from the Arrows. Lazzara opened the season scoring with a 3-pointer, and the score stayed that way midway through the opening quarter as both teams struggled to score and make shots. After Ashland's Lacey scored, Smith quickly answered with a driving layup for the Truckers to make it 5-2. Lacey scored again on a rebound for a 5-4 deficit, but freshman Emma Gebhardt rebounded a Smith miss for a basket and a 7-4 lead. Lacy scored again for the Arrows, then teammate Steury made her first of three 3-pointers in the half to give Ashland a 9-7 lead. That lasted less than 10 seconds as Smith drove the baseline for a left-handed layup to tie the game. The Arrows then quickly turned it over, and Smith again laid it in from the right side just before the buzzer to give the Truckers an 11-9 lead after one quarter. Steury opened the second with a 3 for a 12-11 lead at the 7:45 mark, but Shyla Gruhlke had a up-and-under move from the baseline to give Norwalk the lead right back. Gruhlke then found Schlotterer underneath the basket on a bounce pass that her classmate finished for a 15-12 lead with 5:27 left in the half. Schlotterer scored off a rebound on a missed shot on Norwalk's next possession, and with her team leading 18-12, Rinner drained a 3 from the right side to give Norwalk a 21-12 lead. Lazzara split a pair of foul shots to make it 22-12, but the Arrows responded with a 9-0 run to close the gap. Hoffman scored on a Euro step move to the basket to start the run, then Lacy scored on a missed basket to pull the Arrows within 22-16 with 2:21 left in the half. Steury then made her third 3, and Camryn Cox split two foul shots, but after a Norwalk miss, she was fouled again and did the same at the line to make it 22-21. However, Norwalk got back on track to end the half as Illuzzi scored from the weak side on an easy layup off a great pass from Lazarra to make it 24-21 with under a minute left in the quarter. Smith finished with 15 points for Norwalk, including seven at the free-throw line. Lazzara added 14, while Rinner scored eight and Schlotterer had seven among eight scorers. Lacey and Steury each had 16 points for Ashland. Norwalk shot 17-of-48 from the field and 16-of-33 at the free-throw lone. The Arrows held a slight 28-22 rebounding edge, but committed 19 turnovers to Norwalk's 13. "I know we will get better from this," Manlet said. "We have young kids right now that will learn from this and only get better." The season opener came a year after the Truckers finished as a regional runners-up in Division II — which included winning a district championship at the same gym as Saturday's season opener in Ashland. Norwalk beat Shelby and Perkins to win its second-ever district title inside the AHS gym.