By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Taylor Jung and Janelle Miller combined for 19 fourth-quarter points as the No. 7 seed Greece Olympia girls’ basketball team rallied for a 66-51 victory over No. 10 seed Newark in Section V Class B1 opening-round action, Tuesday night.
Jung scored 12 over the final eight minutes including a pair of free throws to give the Lady Spartans a lead they did not surrender. Miller added seven points during the final quarter.
“It’s really nice because they’ve fed off each other all year long,” Olympia head coach Jeff Jung said of his daughter and fellow player. “They are our two leading scorers.”
Trailing 46-41 with 5:22 remaining in the game, Olympia rattled off 14 straight points.
“We’ve been telling the girls we just got to keep weathering the storm,” Jeff Jung said. “We got in a little foul trouble late. We had to sit Taylor a little bit. We had to sit Cle’anna (Spencer) for a bit. We just told them it’s a sparring match. We were taking punches, taking punches. We told them fourth quarter we just got to knock ‘em out, and that’s what they came out and did.”
Miller ignited the run with a drive and layup from the left wing. Taylor Jung converted a pair of free throws. Two possessions later, Jung connected twice more from the stripe for a 47-46 Olympia lead.
Nondja Nelson found Miller ahead of the defense for two more. Jung hit one of two charity tosses. Spencer scored in the lane, and Miller connected on a free throw for a 55-46 Lady Spartans’ advantage.
Grace Collins grabs the rebound and leads Nondja Nelson who in turn finds Janelle Miller. @GirlsOlympia 49 @NewarkAthletics 46 3:14 remaining pic.twitter.com/dNZSuOrYtp
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) February 26, 2020
Olympia’s defense limited Newark to two field goals during the final stanza.
“When we started picking up full court press, it kinda threw them off their game a little bit,” Jeff Jung explained. “That was the deciding factor. Our girls like to press.
“We didn’t really want to press, but we got put into the situation where we had to.”
Taylor Jung grabbed eight rebounds and finished with a game-high 29 points.
Miller scored 13 of her 15 in the second half. The senior guard also collected 10 rebounds, six assists and five steals.
“They’re usually on opposite sides of the floor, so if you try to double one it frees up the other,” Jeff Jung said. “We do that purposely because Taylor is stronger on the right, and Janelle is stronger on the left.”
Izabella Santella connected on a pull-up 3-pointer and followed two possessions later with a pair of free throws to give Newark a 42-39 lead at the end of the third quarter.
Santella took a Kalyna Bryant pass and finished an and-one for a 46-41 Newark (3-18) lead early in the fourth.
Bryant paced the Reds with 21 points. Santell added 16. Michaela Colacino and Alycia Divelbliss had four apiece. Chariot Cunningham and Jamarya Walker both scored two points. Hannah Fisher and Isabel Robson chipped in a point.
Kalyna Bryant gets the steal and layup. All tied with 2:10 to go in third. @NewarkAthletics 37 @GirlsOlympia 37 pic.twitter.com/8uMTJUFHSi
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) February 26, 2020
Spencer and Abby Dewar added eight points apiece for Olympia. Dewar grabbed six rebounds. Nondja Nelson had four points and Giana Dimora scored two.
Olympia (12-9) will second-seeded Dansville (18-2) in Friday’s quarter-final. A 7 p.m. tip off is slated at Dansville.
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