Relatively free from the stress of having to get the wins needed to reach the post-season, the Skaneateles girls basketball team could use the final full week of the regular season to work out its strengths and weaknesses, both in practices and games.
And the Lakers would get a pretty good indication of where it stood when it faced one of its biggest rivals, Marcellus, on Thursday night. The Mustangs owned a 13-4 record and leading the OHSL Liberty National division with a 9-1 league mark ahead of Skaneateles, whose league record of 7-2 put them in second place.
But it all turned around on this night as Skaneateles, recording its most impressive victory of the season, rallied in the second half and put away Marcellus 55-42.
Though it got off to a quiet start and had a difficult time putting up baskets throughout the first half, the Lakers’ defense made sure that the Mustangs could not build a significant margin.
Trailing 22-17 at the break, Skaneateles put it all together in the third quarter, continuing to defend well and then seeing those stops turn into baskets on the other end during a decisive 23-9 blitz.
All of the key players helped, too, whether it was Chloe Metz working her way to a team-high 17 points or Olivia Dobrovosky earning 16 points. The Mustangs couldn’t key on them, either, because Maeve Canty and Ry’ley Pascal were each getting eight points.
No one on Marcellus got close to the totals of Metz and Dobrovosky. In fact, only Hannah Durand, with 12 points, hit double figures as Katie MacLachlan had eight points, with Sarah Fallon and Sam Wynne earning seven points apiece.
Two nights earlier, the Lakers traveled to Altmar-Parish-Williamstown, where it reached double digits in the win column with a 63-32 romp over the Rebels.
As it had done throughout the late portion of the season, Skaneateles leaned less on the work of all-time leading scorer Olivia Dobrovosky, though she still finished with 15 points, including a pair of 3-pointers.
Ryley Pas’cal got 11 points, with three others – Maeve Canty, Olivia Navaroli and Kate Aberi – each finishing with eight points and Chloe Metz finishing with seven points.
Skaneateles, who improved to 11-7 after the win over Marcellus, plays back-to-back games against CBA and Solvay early next week, will continue to battle it out with the Mustangs who also had two games) for league honors, and then finds out where it will get seeded for the Section III Class B playoffs.
