SYRACUSE – Whether it was through a collective effort or the unprecedented heroics of a single player, the Jamesville-DeWitt and Bishop Ludden girls basketball teams knocked off the top two seeds and will play for the Section III Class A championship.
In one semifinal Monday at SRC Arena, the no. 5 seed Red Rams put an end to top-seeded Auburn’s 17-game win streak by prevailing 47-37 and, in doing so, avenged two regular-season defeats to the Maroons.
This came after a tense opening semifinal where the no. 3 seed Gaelic Knights got 41 points from senior Kaitlyn Kibling and needed every one of them to hold off no. 2 seed Indian River 70-66.
On one side, J-D is a program unaccustomed to the underdog role, having dominated area Class A basketball for the last decade capped by a trio of state championships from 2016 to 2018.
Yet the Rams had already knocked off no. 4 seed Fulton on the road when it took aim at Auburn, whom it had pushed to overtime the last time they had met Feb. 11. That game, though it ended with a 58-54 less, gave J-D the belief that it could contain the Maroons’ transition game if they played again.
What neither team expected, though, was the way the game started. Red-hot from the perimeter, the Rams jumped in front 11-0 and, in the long run, that start was decisive, since for the rest of the game Auburn would find itself in catch-up mode.
Early in the second period, the Maroons moved within three, 15-12, and were still quite close as it went to halftime 21-14, but the start of the third quarter echoed what happened in the opening period.
Consecutive 3-pointers from Bella Sindoni, Macy Durkin and Aniyah Neal made it 30-14, and with this even bigger cushion J-D could afford some complacency as Auburn, once again, tried to rally.
By the final period, the lead was just six, 36-30, but again perimeter shooting arrived just in time. Sindoni hit on back-to-back 3-pointers and the Rams were never seriously threatened again.
Setting a new career mark, Sindoni had 15 points, all from five 3-pointers. Half of Neal’s team-high 18 points came from converting three times beyond the arc as Durkin matched Neal’s outside production for her entire total of nine points.
Defensively, J-D honed in on Auburn’s star forward, Leah Middleton, and mostly contained her, Middleton only earning 12 points as Peyton Maneri led the Maroons with 13 points.
Before all this, the first semifinal between Bishop Ludden and Indian River exceeded expectations in its level of play and the efforts put out by everyone on both sides.
Yet it was Kibling who would all but carry the Gaelic Knights past the Warriors, who paid a steep price for centering its defense on trying to contain Ludden’s star junior forward, Amarah Streiff.
From the outset, Kibling received open looks and converted, which helped the Gaelic Knights lead 14-11 after one period. The exchange continued the rest of the half, Kibling working her total to 16 points as Ludden clung to a 28-26 advantage at the break
Canisius College-bound senior Adrien LaMora would shine again for IR. Finshing with 28 points, LaMora helped pull the Warriors even with the Gaelic Knights, 45-45, heading into the fourth quarter.
Try as it could, though, IR had no answer for Kibling, who hit on a variety of shots, everything from drives to the basket to pulling up and hitting on four 3-pointers. And the Warriors couldn’t key on her because Streiff, despite the double teams, still picked up 15 points and Bridget Dunham had nine points.
Not until Ludden hit on some late free throws could it escape, Kibling getting to 41 points and setting up her Gaelic Knights for a championship battle with J-D, which takes place Saturday at 5 p.m., again at SRC Arena.
