Now all that the Jamesville-DeWitt girls basketball team wants is to gain an eighth consecutive Section III Class A championship.
Having endured a regular season full of tough opposition and injuries that sidelined the likes of Gabby Stickle, the Red Rams still did not lose a single game against a Salt City Athletic Conference Empire division opponent.
Situated at no. 21 in the state Class A rankings, J-D improved to 11-0 in league play last Tuesday against Auburn, shutting down the Maroons for long stretches in a 47-22 victory.
The Rams only led 24-16 at halftime, but then shut out Auburn in the third quarter, putting up 15 unanswered points during those eight minutes.
Paige Keeler, earning 14 points, was part of a modest but balanced J-D attack. Fiona McNeil joined Momo LaClair in getting nine points as Riley LaTray added eight points.
While that win was good, J-D was even better in a non-league game against Maine-Endwell (Section IV) 24 hours later, putting all the pieces together and beating those Spartans 68-37.
All game long, the Rams’ defense made M-E uncomfortable, and while that went on the offense was consistently productive, building a 52-31 lead through three periods and then closing strong.
At the forefront was Keeler, whose 26 points included four 3-pointers. LaClair had 12 points, while Sydney Baker got 10 points and Andrea Sumida had eight points.
Now, to finish unbeaten in league play, the Rams had to go Friday to Central Square. The Redhawks had won nine in a row and remembered how J-D routed them 62-23 when they first met in December.
This second encounter proved far different from the first, with the Rams pushed to the final minutes before battling its way to a 39-31 victory.
It was a special evening even before the game tipped off. Central Square’s basketball players honored volleyball head coach Julie Winks Daniels, who is battling breast cancer, with a check of more than $14,000 raised by the team and the community to help her through her treatments.
The Redhawks didn’t give up on the court, either, even when J-D held them to eight combined points in the second and third periods. With a fourth-quarter push, it trimmed the Rams’ double-digit margin to three, 31-28, with nearly three minutes to play.
Battling hard down the stretch, J-D got clear as Keeler had 12 points, Sumida eight points and Baker seven points. Julia Mann led Central Square with nine points.
Among J-D’s best efforts this season was a sweep of Cortland, who again proved its own worth last Tuesday when it took on East Syracuse Minoa and handled the Spartans 45-20.
Bishop Grimes was successful last Wednesday against Solvay, the Cobras outlasting the Bearcats 35-26 to improve its record to 10-8.
With the game still in doubt, Grimes held Solvay to one point in the fourth quarter. Rhonee Shea Pal earned eight of her 10 points at the free-throw line as Jenna Sloan also finished with 10 points.
On Friday, Grimes lost, 46-34, to Syracuse Academy of Science, seeing an early lead get away when the Atoms held them to two points in the second quarter.
Shea Pal and Lora Marial had seven points apiece, Sloan adding six points. Xyel Bradford paced SAS with 16 points as Erykah Pasha had 11 points, seven rebounds and five steals. Freey Pleasants had 10 points and six assists.
