A wild sequence of area high school girls basketball culminated last weekend with Bishop Grimes taking aim at state Class B no.5-ranked Bishop Ludden without its best player, Danielle Rauch, in the lineup.

Despite that massive opportunity, the Cobras still lost, 54-52, to the Gaelic Knights, who withstood Grimes’ hot shooting in the early stages and controlled the second and third quarters.

Down 43-36 going to the fourth quarter, the Cobras nearly caught up, with Abby Wilkinson getting 16 points and Bri Squier working her way to 13 points as Maria Naylor (nine points) and Sarah Snavlin (six points) helped out.

What helped Ludden hang on was the work of forward Aurora Deshaies, her team’s focal point in Rauch’s absence. Deshaies earned eight of her 27 points in the fourth quarter, adding 10 rebounds as seventh-grader Amarah Streiff added 11 points.

Fayetteville-Manlius did not get time to savor its big Jan. 20 win at Baldwinsville, for two nights later it went to Nottingham and could not quite come back in a 60-57 defeat to the Bulldogs.

Both teams were coming off tough games, with Nottingham having pushed Cicero-North Syracuse to overtime on the same Jan. 20 that F-M topped B’ville. Yet it didn’t affect the pace of this one.

Nottingham outscored the Hornets 16-9 in the second quarter to take a 30-22 lead to halftime. As the tempo quickened, F-M kept up and, in the final period, made a furious comeback attempt that fell just short.

Alexis Schneider poured in 22 points, with Lexy Gray managing 15 points. Lily Fish amassed 11 rebounds to go with five points and five assists as Lexie Roe got eight points and Alexandra Vinci seven points. Amaya Williams and Jakiya Howard led the Bulldogs with 16 points apiece as Chyna Butler added 12 points.

And now F-M had to face C-NS just one night later, with the Northstars back to full strength after Amani Free returned from an injury that caused her to miss two games.

Having lost 45-34 when these two sides met in December, the Hornets were close in the rematch until a third-quarter drought turned things around and led to a 48-29 defeat.

F-M had withstood hot early shooting from the C-NS tandem of Julianna Vassallo and Morgan Siechen (daughter of Jamesville-DeWitt coach Rob Siechen), and with a strong second period pulled within five, 27-22, at the break.

Then, despite solid defense in the third quarter, F-M saw things get away as it was held to a single free throw in those eight minutes, unable to recover.

Schneider led with nine points, with Fish adding six points. F-M held the Northstars’ top player, Amani Free, to eight points, but Vassallo (10 points) and Siechen (nine points) made five 3-pointers between them as freshman forward Jessica Cook had 14 points.

A rematch with Nottingham Friday carried the same result as the first encounter, F-M falling 38-30 to the Bulldogs despite roaring out to a 15-3 first-quarter lead.

Roe and Schneider both had nine points, with Gray adding eight points as F-M led 30-29 through three quarters, only to get shut out in the final period as Williams led Nottingham with 18 points and Butler added 13 points.

In the first of back-to-back weekend games, Christian Brothers Academy beat Hannibal 57-51, taking the lead in the second quarter when it outscored the Warriors 18-11 and protecting that margin the rest of the way.

Brooke Jarvis put up 17 points, with Emily Hall gaining 14 points. Hannah Brooks hit four 3-pointers to account for all of her 12 points as Victoria Hall and Maura Claire Conan had seven points apiece.

That momentum did not carry over into Saturday’s game, where CBA lost, 56-49, to Homer, despite an amazing effort by Jarvis, who carried the Brothers’ attack, pouring in 39 points, including five 3-pointers.

But the rest of the CBA roster had just one field goal.  Down 23-18 at halftime, Jarvis took over as the Brothers outscored the Trojans 20-10 in the third period.

Homer had the last run, though, outscoring 23-13 in the fourth quarter as Caley Cornwell (18 points) and Brenna Johnson (13 points) led that rally.

East Syracuse Minoa took a 61-31 defeat to Central Square last Tuesday night as the Redhawks led 39-9 by halftime.

Holly Carr did get 12 points for the Spartans as Angelina Thomasson (10 points) and Samantha Valentine (nine points) accounted for the rest of the offense.Bre Ransom led Central Square with 22 points, seven assists and five rebounds.

In Friday’s game against Cortland, ESM improved, yet still lost, 44-31, as Thomasson earned 12 points, helped by Valentine, who had eight points, and Taylor Filmer, who got six points.The Purple Tigers got 18 points from Shyanne Lewis and 16 points from Tsai Lewis.