On the last Saturday of the regular season, the Christian Brothers Academy and Jamesville-DeWitt girls basketball teams would settle the OHSL Freedom division regular-season title between them.
And the Brothers would claim the crown, beating the Red Rams 56-46 to complete a regular-season sweep, as CBA had also won at J-D back on Jan. 14.
In both those meetings, the Brothers quickly found out that the Rams had no intention of letting Leanne Ockenden get open jump shots anywhere on the court.
The first time around, that would lead to major struggles for CBA’s offense –but the rematch featured some remedies, even as Ockenden could only manage 11 points.
Katie Webster had her best all-around game of the season, leading the Brothers with 18 points, and for good measure, earning eight rebounds and six steals.
Kelsey Johnson, a reserve forward, grabbed 14 rebounds to go with her eight points to make up for struggles from the likes of Michelle Damico, Ellen Voorheis and Victoria Johnson, who had just four field goals between them.
Together, they sparked CBA to a 30-21 halftime lead. J-D would push back, pulling within three, 38-35, by the end of the third period, but the Brothers would get away in the late going.
The Red Rams had Jessica Kramer and Theresa Hernandez each finish with 13 points, while CBA swarmed all over Alyssa Gratien, holding her to eight points.
This league title showdown was set up by home games CBA and J-D had against third-place Cortland, which had wildly varying results. .
CBA, going first against the Purple Tigers last Tuesday night, rode another special effort from Ockenden to a 61-48 victory.
Fresh off conquering Fayetteville-Manlius and Liverpool to win the Central Square Coaches vs. Cancer Classic, CBA applied the same medicine to Cortland.
Steadily, the Brothers worked its way to a 36-22 halftime lead, then really found its stride in the third quarter, outscoring 22-8 to assure the outcome.
All through this, Ockenden kept hitting her trademark 3-pointers — seven of them, setting a single-game school record as she finished with 28 points. Damico also was superb, earning 15 points, while Voorheis got 12 points.
Now J-D took its turn on Thursday night – but found a very different Cortland squad and suffered a 51-33 loss to those same Purple Tigers that CBA had ripped apart.
It was Senior Night for the J-D starting quintet of Gratien, Hernandez, Kramer, Liz Beville and Nicole Ortega – but the performance did not match the pre-game festivities.
Down 6-5, J-D suffered a decisive blow when Cortland reeled off 15 unanswered points, 10 of them from Courtney Tennant. By the time the quarter was done, the Rams were down, 24-7, and in permanent catch-up mode.
The Purple Tigers did cool off – but J-D did not take advantage, unable to grab the rebounds or put together a sustained scoring run. It pulled within 33-22 in the third quarter before Cortland used an 8-1 spurt to get away for good.
Gratien, bothered by foul trouble all night, had just six points, while Kramer had nine points and Caitlin Cariseo earned seven points. Tennant finished with 19 points as her teammate, Maggie Brown, got 13 points.
J-D, before playing Cortland, roared past Mexico 64-40. The Red Rams put together its best first half from an offensive standpoint as it gained a 47-18 lead before cooling off later.
Both Gratien, who hit three 3-pointers, and Kramer finished with 19 points, while Hernandez took on a larger role and put up 12 points.
