As they continued to eye each other, the Christian Brothers Academy and Jamesville-DeWitt girls basketball teams did little to discourage the notion that they’re headed for a post-season showdown.
Still undefeated, the Brothers again were superb in last Monday’s game at Westhill, where the duo of Brooke Jarvis and Leana Heitmann tore the Warriors’ usually formidable defense apart in a 61-38 victory.
Late in the second quarter, CBA put together a series of baskets and broke the game open. Then it outscored Westhill 16-6 in the third quarter, its defense pressuring the Warriors into a series of mistakes.
Meanwhile, Jarvis, fresh off a 29-point performance against Chittenango on Jan. 3, continued to convert at will, hitting on 12 field goals and getting 27 points. Heitmann made sure Westhill didn’t key on Jarvis, hitting on a trio of 3-pointers and finishing with 16 points overall.
Back home Friday night, CBA faced Class AA’s Rome Free Academy and made it nine wins in a row, diversifying its attack to put away the Black Knights 60-44.
They traded baskets for a while until the Brothers’ defense clamped down and, in the second quarter, limited RFA to three points.
Eventually, the margin grew to 47-28 by the end of the third quarter as Heitmann led the way this time, earning 16 points, including a trio of 3-pointers. Jarvis, with 15 points, was matched by Emily Hall as Maura Clare Conan stepped up, too, earning 10 points.
As that went on, J-D was facing East Syracuse Minoa, still trying to work through things after seeing one of its key players, Gabby Stickle, suffer a season-ending injury.
Here, the Red Rams beat the Spartans 68-35, starting the game on a 21-2 r un and led by Paige Keeler’s 20 points as Lily Loewenguth got 12 points and Amanda Sumida had 10 points. Angelina Polcaro paced the Spartans with 13 points.
As if the work of CBA and J-D wasn’t encouraging enough to local fans, Bishop Grimes made a strong statement of its own last Friday when it went to Chittenango and spoiled a big occasion for the Bears with a 47-39 victory.
It was on this night that Chittenango’s fine all-around senior, Ally Shoemaker, surpassed 1,000 career points, the game stopped to honor Shoemaker with a poster, commemorative basketball and a standing ovation after she reached that mark.
For the game, though, the story was how the Cobras’ defense kept things close even after Chittenango built a 22-13 halftime lead.
Then Grimes took over in the fourth quarter, its pressure leading to baskets, especially from Lora Marial, who earned more than half her 17 points from three 3-pointers.
Rhonee Shea Pal finished with 13 points, six of them free throws, while the Cobras held Shoemaker to 12 points as Emily Moon got 10 points for the Bears.
ESM, before it faced J-D, would take on Oswego last Tuesday night and lost, 55-23, to the Buccaneers, who were led by 15 points from Catie Lilly as Mary Culeton (11 points) and Hannah Holland (10 points) helped.
