The Homer girls basketball team hung around with New Hartford for a while, but the Trojans were on the wrong end of a dominant third quarter in a 78-42 loss Wednesday night at Homer High School.
The Trojans were down 21-12 after a quarter and had it at 25-18 early in the second. A 13-5 run sent New Hartford into the half with a 38-23 advantage.
New Hartford came out of the break on fire, pouring in 29 points in the frame. Kamryn Richards scored 13 of her 16 points in the frame and Tara Fobare and Lexi Mungari each knocked down two triples each. Homer head coach Brad Sovocool noticed the Spartans really got the pace going after pressing all game, but also felt his girls couldn’t handle New Hartford’s offensive efficiency.
“Aside from their pressure, I feel like that quarter they didn’t miss,” Sovocool said. “I think I saw five 3-pointers go in for them. They scored 29 points and we scored 13 points. I’m not upset from an offensive production standpoint.”
Sovocool understood his girls were taking on a top Section III Class A side and was happy with the early competitiveness. New Hartford wanted to get the pace going desperately, pressing off both made and missed shots in the first half. The Trojans managed to slow that down in the first quarter and forced the Spartans to shoot inside of 10 seconds on the shot clock time and time again, but the shots kept falling.
“Based on what we saw on film, we knew they like to utilize the shot clock and chew that down,” Sovocool said. “They happened to convert late in the clock early. I thought they made some challenging shots. They were good defensive possessions with a tough shot made.”
Izzy Small, Lauren Franco and Anya Gofkowski were able to break New Hartford’s press consistently in the first half and Lizzie McCloy and Makenna Pym benefitted with layups on the other end. Things got more difficult in the second half with the score getting out of hand, but Sovocool was happy to see his girls converting a broken press into points.
“Being able to handle really tough pressure from a very good team, being able to break the press and see the points at the other end on top of it is a huge stepping stone for us,” Sovocool said. “It’s stuff we’ve struggled with in years past and earlier this season.”
Franco finished with a team-high 18 points for Homer, with Pym adding eight, McCloy contributing six, Kennadie Taylor recording four and Gofkowski and Maddie Morgan scoring three each.
Mungari led New Hartford with 24 points as one of three Spartans in double figures. Richards had 16 and Fobare had 13, with the trio combining for all eight of New Hartford’s made 3-pointers.
“They’re a very athletic team that’s good at dictating what their opponents do,” Sovocool said. “Personally, I think that’s a top three team in Class A and probably one of the toughest opponents we’re going to see all season.”
Homer, now 2-4, will play again at noon Saturday at home against Mexico.
