This time around, the Skaneateles girls basketball team swore it would be different, that at full strength it would give Cazenovia a much tougher fight than it did earlier this season.
And it was different – but it still tilted in Cazenovia’s favor as sophomore sparkplug Audrey Burbidge led her side to win the latest battle of Laker teams 53-42.
When they had first met Dec. 20 at Buckley Gym, Cazenovia won 54-34, helped in no small part by the fact that Skaneateles missed senior forward Mary Buck, out with a sprained ankle.
Buck was back now, and the presence of a full frontcourt that featured Buck and Joanna Dobrovosky, plus playing at home, was expected to propel Skaneateles to at least make things closer.
Early on, Skaneateles did better than that, getting 3-pointers from Elizabeth Lane and Brittany Welch to propel itself to a 13-7 first-quarter lead. For the rest of the game, though, Lane would struggle, hounded by Cazenovia’s Kristie Kleine and held to six points overall.
Dobrovosky went to the bench with her second foul midway through the second period and Cazenovia pounced, going on an 11-0 run that stretched into the early portion of the third quarter as it held Skaneateles without a field goal for more than nine minutes.
Burbidge, whose two free throws clinched the 49-45 win over then-unbeaten Westhill on Feb. 5, had an even bigger role on this night, hitting 3-pointers at key moments, including two in the third quarter that helped put Cazenovia ahead for good after Skaneateles briefly rallied to take a 25-23 lead.
Again with Dobrovosky on the bench, Burbidge and Maggie Carpenter accounted for most of the offense in a 13-2 outburst that gave Cazenovia a 41-30 margin going to the fourth quarter. Overall, Burbidge managed 16 points, while Carpenter had 14 points. Kleine, Sally Langan and Maggie Johnson had six points apiece.
Though Skaneateles would get back within seven, 49-42, at one point in the homestretch, it would get shut out in the game’s last 3:37, none of its shots falling when they were needed. Dobrovosky finished with 11 points, with Nicole Beatson adding 10 points. Welch got nine points.
A night later, Skaneateles closed out the regular season with a 44-22 victory over Vernon-Verona-Sherrill, steadily gaining a 25-12 lead by halftime and locking it up by shutting out the Red Devils in the fourth quarter.
Lane rebounded from her Cazenovia struggles, leading Skaneateles with 13 points. Inside, both Dobrovosky, with 10 points, and Joanna Dean, with nine points, would provide production.
Then the Section III Class B playoff pairings were announced. Cazenovia drew the no. 4 seed and will meet no. 13 seed Bishop Ludden Saturday night at 6 p.m. at Buckley Gym in the opening round. The winner advances to a quarterfinal against Sherburne-Earlville or Solvay.
This will come a night after Skaneateles, as the no. 8 seed, meets no. 9 seed Marcellus Friday at 6 p.m., with the winner visiting top seed and defending champion South Jefferson (18-0) in the quarterfinals.
