All in all, it proved to be a pretty good four-week stretch for Solvay seniors Jackie Gardner and Chelsie Delperuto.
To start with, on Oct. 30, Gardner led the girls volleyball Bearcats to a victory over Marcellus to earn the Section III Class B championship.
Then, in a ceremony on Nov. 18, Delperuto and Gardner, who have led Solvay’s softball team to back-to-back sectional titles and an appearance in the 2014 state title game, signed their college letters of intent for that sport – Delperuto to the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, Gardner to Radford University in Virginia.
And after all that, Delperuto and Gardner got to work with Solvay’s girls basketball team, and it opened last Tuesday night with the seniors again in the forefront as the Bearcats defeated the Chittenango Bears 42-23.
Mostly, Solvay’s defense did the good work in the early going, holding Chittenango to two points in the first quarter. Then it traded baskets with the Bears through the game’s middle stages before closing with an 11-2 burst.
Through it all, Delperuto nearly outscored Chittenango all by herself, finishing with 20 points, including seven successful free throws. Gardner added six points, five rebounds and four assists, with Taylor Marcott adding five points and Gianna Pennisi adding six rebounds to go with four points.
Solvay goes on the road this week to face Altmar-Parish-Williamstown and Phoenix as all of the other area girls basketball teams get underway.
