by E. Jay Zarett
The Oswego girls basketball team opened the scoring against Jamesville-DeWitt in Sunday night’s Section III Class A semifinal at Onondaga Community College’s Allyn Hall with a lay-up.
By the time the Buccaneers recorded another field goal, it was trailing by 18 points.
The no. 2 seed Red Rams jumped to a double-digit lead in the first three minutes and never looked back, cruising to a 65-26 victory.
Meg Hair, held to 10 points in last Tuesday’s sectional quarterfinal rout of CBA, topped that total early against Oswego, knocking down four 3-pointers – and tallying 14 total points – in the game’s first six minutes and the Rams led by as many as 21 during that time frame.
“It was very important,” Hair said about her hot start. “We have to start our games hard. My teammates got me the ball and I was able to hit my shots. It gave us confidence.”
J-D head coach Rob Siechen said that Hair’s first-quarter play on both sides of the ball was a key factor in J-D’s victory.
“She shot the ball fantastic early,” Siechen said. “Defensively, she’s getting tips when they’re trying to get the ball down the floor. She was very good for us today.”
Oswego’s back-to-back 3-pointers cut its deficit to 24-9, but that was as close as the Bucs would get the rest of the way. Kasey Vaughan knocked down a 3-pointer with 2:45 remaining in the half and Hair followed with a lay-up to push J-D’s lead back up to 20.
From there, the Rams kept rolling, opening the third quarter on a 10-2 run to push its advantage to 45-16. J-D’s lead reached 30 after a 3-pointer by Gabby Stickle five minutes into the third quarter and grew to as many as 38 after a free throw by Momo LaClair.
“We think the start of the second half is one of the key times,” Siechen said. “You’ve got to come out and try to impose your will, if you can.”
Hair led J-D with 20 total points in the contest, while Julia Kelner added 14 points.
“This win means everything,” Hair said. “We have a very young team. They (Oswego) were very excited coming in here, but we have one more game. We’ve got to focus on that one.”
That game is this Saturday’s sectional Class A final at 10 a.m. at Allyn Hall against no. 2 seed Whitesboro, who beat Indian River 46-31 in the other semifinal. It’s the fifth straight year these sides have met for the sectional championship, with J-D winning the previous four.
