As the calendar turns to 2008, the Fayetteville-Manlius girls basketball team is 6-3, fully prepared for a tough second half of the regular season.
The Hornets achieved the last two of these wins during the Vince Celi Memorial Tournament at East Syracuse-Minoa, where it won both of its games by comfortable margins.
By far, the more difficult test came in last Thursday’s opening round, against Whitesboro. A big second-half push carried the Hornets past the Warriors 52-37.
F-M scored the game’s first eight points, only to have Whitesboro draw even. In the second quarter, Warriors senior forward Meghan Soja took over, hitting on 11 consecutive points to push her team to a 24-19 lead late in the half.
However, the Hornets cut the margin to one, 24-23, by halftime, and went up for good by scoring the first nine points of the second half — a 13-0 run in all. With strong man-to-man defense, F-M never let Whitesboro answer that run.
With the Warriors concerned so much about Torie Lee, Emily Trapani stepped up, leading the Hornets with 18 points. Amy Cameron had eight points, while Lee and Morgan Axenfeld produced six points apiece.
ESM followed on the court, meeting Onondaga in its opening-round game. It proved to be a close affair, but the Spartans lost to the Tigers 44-39.
After slow starts from both sides, ESM stayed within sight the entire game, pushed into contention by Alexandra Casella, who finished with 17 points. Becky Teschler added six points.
However, OCS would stay in front, mostly with the help from its pair of stars. Lindsay Abbott and Geena Brady each finished with 16 points, with more than half of those points (nine from Abbott, eight from Brady) coming from successful free throws.
So in Friday’s action, F-M faced Onondaga in the finals, while ESM met Whitesboro in the consolation game.
Just as expected, the Hornets dominated against the Tigers, leading all the way through in an easy 55-22 victory.
Quickly putting OCS in a tough spot, F-M outscored the Tigers 14-2 in the first quarter, then further emphasized the point by limiting the opposition to just 10 total points in the second half.
Lee would snare tournament MVP honors after a strong finals performance where she finished with 18 points. Cameron continued to improve, earning nine points, while Kristin Mannion gained seven points and Axenfeld gained six points.
Prior to that, in the consolation game, Whitesboro beat ESM 55-26, getting away when it outscored the Spartans 31-9 over the course of the middle two periods. Teschler improved to 11 points, as Mallory Buckley and Susan Brownson each got six points. Betsy Gadziala and Meghan Soja paced Whitesboro with 13 points apiece.
ESM starts off a new year Friday by playing at Jamesville-DeWitt, just as F-M is at home, facing Henninger.
