At just the right moment, the Jamesville-DeWitt girls basketball team is establishing a permanent place among the Section III Class A championship contenders, as it beat two more OHSL Freedom division foes.
Fresh off a huge win at Mexico on Jan. 30, the Red Rams made a trip to Cortland last Tuesday night and handled the Purple Tigers in a 60-40 decision to improve to 11-6.
J-D’s defense dictated how the entire night transpired. It held Cortland to six points in the first quarter, built a comfortable lead and kept on going until it had a 32-16 halftime advantage.
Though that defense slackened a bit in the second half, the Red Rams actually improved on the offensive side to keep its comfortable margin. Cortland’s top player, Courtney Tennant, had just five points.
Jessica Kramer, with 11 points, led a balanced, deep attack. Alyssa Gratien, Molly Maroney and Chayla Love each gained eight points, while Nicole Ortega got seven points. Abbey Smith and Theresa Hernandez picked up six points apiece. With Tennant struggling, Cortland had Aubrey VanGorder earn 12 points and Alena Turturro add 10 points.
Meanwhile, first-place CBA stayed hot, moving to 14-2 with a 63-38 dismantling of the Chittenango Bears.
Strong on defense in the early going, CBA held Chittenango to just four points in the first quarter. From there, the margin kept growing, to 47-25 by the end of the third period before the Brothers eased up a bit.
Leanne Ockenden, who made four 3-pointers, finished with 22 points, and Kayla Stroman was right behind, getting 18 points. By contrast, Chittenango’s top scorer, Emily Baker, had just eight points.
