Not until its fifth outing of the season did the Baldwinsville girls basketball team taste defeat.
That came on Friday night, when the 4-0 Bees went to West Genesee and, thanks to major struggles at the start of each half, took a 47-39 loss to the Wildcats.
At 5-1 entering the game, WG had already shown vast improvement under first-year head coach Dan Hallinan. And it proceeded to shut down B’ville in the first quarter, barely allowing anything as the visitors fell behind 13-3.
Briefly, B’ville made some adjustments and started to convert with regularity, cutting the deficit in half, to 23-18, by the break. However, the third quarter proved a mirror of the first, WG taking off on a 16-5 push that all but settled matters.
Though nicely balanced, the Bees had no player score in double figures. Angelica Romeu and Morgan Marshall led with nine points, while Maggie Monnat got held to eight points, the same total as Liz Giromini. By contrast, WG’s tandem of Vicki Graveline and Melissa Fumano nearly matched B’ville by themselves, as Graveline had 24 points and Fumano contributed 13 points.
B’ville almost didn’t make it to Camillus undefeated. Utica Proctor came to the Baker High School gym last Tuesday night and made it difficult all night long before the Bees pulled out a 55-51 win over the Raiders.
Though Proctor’s top star from recent years, Brianna Kiesel, is now a key player for the University of Pittsburgh, the Raiders are still formidable, as B’ville found out.
Nursing a 12-9 lead through one quarter, the Bees fell into a pattern where the pace would vary, but the results were the same. Every single time Proctor would make a push, B’ville would push back with enough offense and clutch plays.
A big part of the win was seeing the offense diversify. Monnat still led with 16 points, including a pair of 3-pointers, but Romeu also connected twice beyond the arc on her way to a season-best 13 points.
Giromini and Andrea Moore stepped up, too, each of them getting nine points as Giromini earned five of those points at the foul line. Sabrina Olds and Imani Pierce led Proctor with 15 points apiece.
After the loss to West Genesee, B’ville set up for its annual trip to the Vince Celi Memorial Tournament at East Syracuse-Minoa. The Bees met defending Class A champion Whitesboro in Tuesday’s first round, and will get ESM or Auburn on Wednesday.
