Hartwell's 31 points spark Schroon Lake/Newcomb title

PLATTSBURGH | Olivia Hartwell saved her best performance of the season for the biggest stage Saturday, Feb. 28, lifting Schroon Lake/Newcomb to the Section VII Class D girls basketball championship with a 45-27 victory over Bolton at Clinton Community College. Hartwell poured in 31 points and drilled all four of the game's 3-pointers as No. 12 Schroon Lake/Newcomb captured the sectional title in the program's first season as a merged team. She scored 10 points in the second quarter to help the Wild Huskies gain control and finished with more points than Bolton as a team. Schroon Lake/Newcomb's defense took over after halftime. The Wild Huskies (18-5) held No. 3 Bolton to one field goal in the third quarter and two in the fourth, limiting the Eagles (19-3) to 11 points over the final 16 minutes. Bolton's 1,000-point scorers, Jadynn Egloff and Maille Kelley, were held to a combined 17 points. "As soon as I hit the first one, I was feeling it, so I was just going to keep shooting," Hartwell said. "I airballed one right in the middle of that stretch, but I kept shooting because in the past couple games I've missed a few and just stopped. I needed to keep my head up and keep going. "Coming into this game, my best game of the season last year was played on this court, so I was ready for it. I knew it was going to be a battle early, but if we could grind it out, we could put them away and not have to worry about a close game at the end." Schroon Lake/Newcomb broke the game open with a 12-0 run spanning the end of the third quarter and the start of the fourth, stretching a 28-20 lead into a 40-20 advantage. The Wild Huskies led 21-16 at halftime before pulling away after the break. "We stepped up our communication, just talking, listening to each other and knowing where everyone was," Carly Smith said. "We worked hard these past couple weeks, and we were able to apply that to this game." Bolton had swept the regular-season series, edging Schroon Lake/Newcomb 44-42 on Dec. 9 and winning 48-39 on Feb. 6, but the Wild Huskies flipped the result when it mattered most. Schroon Lake/Newcomb will face Moriah in the Section VII Champions Challenge before meeting the Section II representative in a NYSPHSAA Class D sub-regional at 6 p.m. March 10 at Averill Park High School. "I'm excited," Hartwell said. "This was the game we were working toward, and now it's bonus basketball." Smith added, "Not many teams are still playing basketball in March. We're just going to work hard, make sure we're dialed in and keep going." Hartwell led all scorers with 31 points. Emily Thompson scored four points, and Smith added three for Schroon Lake/Newcomb. Bolton was led by Egloff with 10 points and Kelley with seven.

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Hartwell's 31 points spark Schroon Lake/Newcomb title

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