A rush of area girls basketball games preceding the holiday break included, among other things, West Genesee continuing to handle every SCAC Metro division opponent and Westhill winning twice in a span of less than 24 hours.
Armed with the no. 7 spot in the first state Class AA rankings of the winter, West Genesee visited Nottingham on Dec. 21 and, again, the Wildcats cranked up the defense in a 59-36 victory over the Bulldogs.
Limiting Nottingham to seven points in both the second and third quarters, WG built a 45-25 edge, and Mackenzie Smith was at the forefront, ultimately finishing with 20 points, including three 3-pointers.
Madison Smith was close behind, getting 15 points as Kaitlyn Walker contributed six points. No one on the Bulldogs’ side had more than the seven points from Jakiya Howard.
Westhill had not played since its Dec. 15 defeat to Bishop Ludden when it traveled to face Christian Brothers Academy, a game taken over by junior forward Jenna Larrabee as she led the Warriors past the Brothers 58-45.
With CBA’s defense bent on taking away Mackenzie Martin, Larrabee kept getting open – and kept converting. Between 11 field goals and nine successful free throws, Larrabee finished with 31 points, a new career mark.
Just as importantly, Larrabee didn’t work alone, Catherine Dadey and Imani Watts combining to hit four 3-pointers and finishing with 11 points apiece as Westhill, leading most of the way, outscored the Brothers 23-15 in the fourth quarter to pull clear.
On the very next afternoon, the Warriors faced Henninger and got a 63-52 win over the Black Knights, who were close most of the way but, like CBA, saw Westhill draw away during the final minutes.
Larrabee continued to play well, getting 20 points, with Dadey’s 18 points mostly a result of four 3-pointers and Martin getting back to double digits with 12 points as Watts added eight points. Gijna Lewis (15 points) and Nijihonna McDaniel (12 points) paced Henninger.
As that was going on, Bishop Ludden, in its first game since claiming the rematch with Westhill, got overwhelmed by Bishop Kearney, who at no. 6 sat just ahead of West Genesee in those state AA rankings.
Kearney beat the Gaelic Knights 85-33, with Ludden unable to do much on the perimeter to help forwards Aurora Deshaies, who had 12 points, and Amarah Streiff, who had nine points.
Marcellus went to Homer on Dec. 21 and won big, topping the Trojans 52-32 as the Mustangs steadily built a big lead, capped by holding Homer to four points in the third quarter, the margin growing to 44-20.
Mei LaMarre and Hannah Durand led the charge, each of them connecting on three 3-pointers as LaMarre finished with 19 points and Durand got 17 points. For the Trojans, Jerze Joseph led with 12 points.
A head-to-head battle between Solvay and Jordan-Elbridge went down to the final possession, with the Bearcats able to emerge with a narrow 31-30 victory over the Eagles.
J-E had an 18-16 lead at halftime, but neither side was able to put together a sustained scoring run. As time wound down, the Eagles, still up 30-29, could not hit on crucial free throws, giving the Bearcats a chance to go in front – which it did with a last-second basket.
Diamond Grant, with 13 rebounds, led Solvay on the defensive end as Haley Muehl added nine rebounds to go with seven points. Allie Posnick also had seven points and Myah Platler got six points and six rebounds. Emily Bard had seven points for the Eagles as Ashlee Eaton and Mollie Yard both earned six points.
