Cortland girls basketball captures regional title; squad now set for first-ever state final four appearance (Photos & Videos Included)

A special thank you goes to Visions Federal Credit Union for partnering with us to provide the greater Cortland County community with additional sports coverage

Cortland girls basketball team beats Newark Valley in the regional round of the Class B NYS Tournament. (Photo provided by Timothy A. Bennett, Owner & Publisher of The Cortland Voice).

The Cortland girls basketball team had a matchup of epic proportions in the Class B state regional final against Section IV’s Newark Valley on Saturday at the SRC Arena.

The Purple Tigers, ranked ninth in the state in Class B, faced off against the top-ranked Cardinals, the Class C state runner-up last season.

Newark Valley had control of most of the game, but Cortland mounted a comeback in the fourth quarter on route to a 46-41 victory.

“It was a huge matchup. We fought well against a really good team,” Cortland coach Janice Meyer said. “I told the girls to show them we’re a top-10 team in the state. That’s exactly what they did.”

The Purple Tigers captured their first-ever state regional crown. Now, they’re set to make its first-ever state final four appearance this weekend.

“I’m super proud of these girls,” Meyer said. “This is history and they deserve every minute of it.”

Cortland got off to a slow start in the first half and found itself down 22-11 at the break. This prompted Meyer to give her squad a pep talk in between halves.

“I tried to get a fire under them,” she said. “That first half was unacceptable offensively. We came out scared. We weren’t looking for the things we needed to look for. We settled for bad circumstances on how we were going to play, and that’s not us.”

Despite still being down 29-27 after the third, it was all Purple Tigers after a 16-7 spurt in the quarter.

“Every game, I’ve been giving them the green light,” Meyer said. “I tell them to leave it all out on the floor. We have absolutely nothing to lose at this point.”

Cortland was down five midway through the fourth. The quarter as a whole, however, saw the Purple Tigers go on a 19-12 run, completing the comeback effort in the process.

“I think the first half was feeling (Newark Valley) out,” Cortland junior Valerosa Gambitta said. “We really didn't come alive until the second half. We had a nice pep talk from coach (Meyer), got out there and knew what we had to do.”

Tigers junior Kendall Mack, who paced her squad with 21 points, scored 14 of those points in the second half. Mallory Turner chipped in nine points.

“We pushed the ball really fast down the court (in the second half),” Mack said. “There was better ball movement.”

Cortland now faces Section V’s Waterloo in the state semifinal round at 10 a.m. Friday at Hudson Valley Community College (HVCC). Waterloo, also named the Tigers, knocked off Section VI’s Depew in its regional final on Saturday.

The winner of Friday’s semifinal contest between Cortland and Waterloo moves on to the Class B state championship at 5:15 p.m. Saturday at HVCC.

“We know it’s going to get tougher from here,” Gambitta said. “We’ll just game plan and hopefully pull it off like we’ve been the past few games.”

Here are some photos from the game (Photos provided by Timothy A. Bennett, Owner & Publisher of The Cortland Voice):

Here is a highlight video of the game (Original videos provided by Timothy A. Bennett, Owner & Publisher of The Cortland Voice):

A special thank you goes to Visions Federal Credit Union for partnering with us to provide the greater Cortland County community with additional sports coverage