Last night, the Cortland varsity girls basketball team suffered a tough 33-38 loss against Auburn at home.
“We knew this was going to be a tough spot, because we just played JD (Jamesville-Dewitt) the other night,” said Cortland Head Coach Nolan Sinclair. “Auburn is a well coached team. They are big, strong, and physical. We knew that we had to try to meet that physicality and take care of the basketball, and we struggled to do that tonight.”
It was a close game from the very beginning. At the end of the half, the Cortland Tigers were down 13-15.
In the second half, the Tigers came out on the defensive, with senior Kaitlyn Pratt leading the charge after getting five steals on the night.
“We worked hard defensively and we moved the basketball well,” Coach Sinclair stated. “At the end, the finished product is to make the shot, and unfortunately we didn’t put the ball in the basket.”
The fourth quarter turned into a back-and-forth affair, with both teams exchanging the lead, until Auburn got the edge at the end with less than a minute left in the game.
The Tigers were led by Pratt, as she ended the game with 11 points, which were all scored in the second half. Gabriella Fowler had nine points and nine rebounds.
“We are excited about the challenge,” said Coach Sinclair. “These are games that are great leading up to the sectional tournament, because we know that we’re going to be challenged every night. We know that the teams we’re going to play are going to be physical and we need to be mentally prepared for them.”
Up next, Cortland will play at Central Square at 6:30 pm. on Tuesday, February 4th.
Here is a highlight video of last night's game (video interview included):
