In postgame remarks Tri-Valley Coach Jason Closs described the team his Bears had just played against, saying "we faced a good athletic team that will pay dividends for us as I don't think we will play another team that can apply that type of pressure."
The pressure included a strong full-court press which resulted in many errant Tri-Valley passes, 43 turnovers and a number of easy baskets for the Lady Dragons.
Tri-Valley offered their best offensive punch in the first eight minutes of play staying with the first place OCIAA Class A team leading them 9-4 at the 5:43 mark and 12-6 at the 4:48 mark off a three-pointer by senior guard Caroline Martin.
Cornwall came back strong after the Martin score and tied the game at 12-12 as the clock ticked down to 2:44. The Lady Dragons went on to take a 18-12 first quarter lead.
The Lady Dragons outscored Tri-Valley 22-14 in the second quarter, 18-8 in the third quarter and 17-6 in the fourth quarter.
The Bears the prior night suffered their first league loss at Florida as S.S.Seward took control in the fourth quarter to edge Tri-Valley 56-51. Erika Straub scored 19 points for Seward and Caroline Martin had 17 points for Tri-Valley who with this loss slipped to a 7-5 overall and 4-1 in OCIAA league play.
Coach Closs in commenting on the Cornwall loss noted, "we did make mistakes but the key to a game like this is to learn from those mistakes."
"Cornwall is a team that has won 12 straight division titles and in the last eight years has not lost a division (Class A) game and that's the type of program we are looking to build," Closs said.
The Tri-Valley coach strongly noted that "I would rather play a team that's going to give us their best then to play a team that we can just run all over because there are a lot of things we learned today."
Closs added, "one thing is that we are not giving up and we don't go away and no one hung their head and they realized who they were up against and that's life."
Cornwall coach Chris Miller said "our pressure made a difference as we go 10 deep and he (Closs) doesn't and we go 10 deep every game and that's to our benefit and that's why we play the way we do."
Miller gave praise to Tri-Valley saying, "they played extremely hard and I think this will help them for sectionals." He concluded by saying " Coach Closs is a smart coach by playing us and getting ready for sectional play."
With the win Cornwall goes to 12-3 overall and 5-0 in OCIAA league play. Tri-Valley drops to 7-6 overall and 4-1 in league play.
Sandra Alemany contined her aggressive style of play by leading Tri-Valley with 16 points followed by Danielle Shafarsky with 10.
Sam Incognoli scored 13 points for Cornwall followed by 12 points each by Alison Thorpe and Jackie Hogan with 12 points apiece.
Tri-Valley gets back into league play tonight at home against Chester, plays Chapel Field at home Friday and Tuxedo in league play at home in a 1:30 game Saturday.
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PHOTOS FROM SATURDAY'S GAME
Tri-Valley's leading scorer with 16 points Sandra Alemany (25) scores over Cornwall's Sam Reed in Saturday's 75-40 loss to the Green Dragons at Grahamsville.
Cornwall's leading scorer with 13 points, Sam Incognoli, attempts to drive past Tri-Valley's Caroline Martin (32) and Danielle Shafarsky (20) in the Green Dragons 75-40 win
Saturday at Grahamsville.
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