Toughened up by the competition it had faced all winter long, the Skaneateles girls basketball team sought a landmark victory, but only met with frustration.
Utica-Notre Dame, the no. 4 seed and defending champions, dashed the no. 4 seed Lakers’ dreams in a 71-40 defeat during Tuesday night’s Section III Class B quarterfinal.
To knock off the Jugglers, and end the high-school career of Iowa State-bound senior Emily Durr, would constitute one of the biggest wins in program history. Durr is one of just eight Section III players to record more than 2,000 career points.
But with a lineup nicely balanced between inside strength (Molly Wood and Joanna Dobrovosky) and outside skill (Nicole Beatson, Elizabeth Lane), Skaneateles was confident that it could knock the reigning champions, who held the no. 3 spot in the state Class B rankings, out.
And Skaneateles did start the game well, hitting on early baskets, but all that seemed to do was awaken UND, who went out in front late in the first quarter and eventually grabbed a 21-14 lead.
Things got desperate in the second period. Every defense the Lakers conceived, from a box-and-one to a triangle-and-two, didn’t work against the Jugglers, who solved them and outscored Sknaeateles 22-9 in that frame to take a commanding 43-23 lead to the break.
Part of the problem the Lakers faced catching up was that it wasn’t getting much variety out of its offense. Dobrovosky found some success in the paint, putting up 19 points, while Beatson had 12 points and Lane nine points, but no other Skaneateles player managed a single point.
Meanwhile, the Jugglers drew clear as it nearly had three players achieve double-doubles. Durr produced 24 points and 11 rebounds, plus six assists and four steals, but Jaclyn Hagec nearly matched her with 21 points and 10 rebounds, while Anari Harris had 16 points and nine rebounds.
Having seen its season end with a 15-5 mark, Skaneateles knew that the graduation of Dobrovosky, Beatson, Wood and Sarah Tomlinson would hurt. Lane will return for 2014-15, assuming a greater role on all fronts as the Lakers look to contend again.
