So now it’s official — the Canastota girls basketball team has the first undefeated regular season in the program’s history.
And the final part proved to be quite representative of the entire enterprise, as the Raiders smothered Vernon-Verona-Sherrill with defense and kept on going until it had beaten the Red Devils 49-21 for that magical 20-0 mark.
Though on the road, and though it was facing a Tri-Valley League opponent that had faced Class A schools much of the winter, Canastota was not fazed, even with the added pressure of that undefeated mark.
A modest 9-5 advantage in the first quarter turned more substantial in the game’s middle stages. Much of that could be attributed to a defense that took away anything that the Red Devils tried to establish.
As this was going on, Liz McGinley found her way past one milestone, converting an early basket to reach the 1,000-point mark. She didn’t stop there, either, finishing with 18 points on the night, plus 14 rebounds that put her within eight boards of 1,000 in that column, too.
Canastota’ 15-4 domination of the third quarter settled matters. Aside from McGinley, Alicia Hibbard was the top threat, with eight points, while Lindsay McGinley and Shea Foster each got six points and Alexis Havens had five points.
Canastota’s boys team had a fine effort on Wednesday night, when it went to Camden and beat the Blue Devils by a score of 57-46.
A 13-13 tie broke up when the Raiders held Camden to just five points in the second quarter, and the lead grew to double digit in the third period as the Blue Devils could not make up the margin.
Anton Motley, with 17 points, led four Canastota players that scored in double figures. Nick Marji had 12 points, while Pat Micaroni and Ryan Merrill both had 10 points.
The Raiders, as the no. 8 seed in the boys Class B-2 playoffs, meet General Brown Tuesday night to see who gets to face top seed Mount Markham in the B-2 quarterfinals later this week.
Meanwhile, the Canastota girls, owning the top seed in its Class B-2 bracket, wait to play again until Feb. 24, when it hosts no. 8 seed Hannibal in the quarterfinal round, with the winner to get General Brown or Adirondack late next week in the semifinal round.
