In a tough, close manner, the Chittenango girls basketball team broke through for its first victory of the 2013-14 season.
Hosting Henninger Tuesday night, the Bears steadily built a lead until the final minutes, when it held on long enough to defeat the Black Knights 31-29.
Floundering at 0-3, Chittenango mostly turned to its defense on this night, holding Henninger to just three points in the first quarter as it moved out in front.
If the Bears had any problem, it was that it couldn’t get many baskets, either, only able to gain a 16-10 lead by halftime and a 23-15 margin going to the fourth quarter.
Once there, Adair Newton (nine points) and Chyna Butler (eight points) tried to bring the Black Knights back, and almost pulled it off. But Chittenango got to the finish line still in front.
Sarah Moon led the hit-and-miss attack, earning 12 points. Moon, along with Megan Pierce (eight points) and Sara Pierce (seven points), accounted for all but two of the Bears’ field goals, with Julianna Grover getting those other two.
It proved far less productive for Chittenango’s boys side, who ventured to Fabius-Pompey on that same night and took a 64-40 defeat to the Falcons.
Off to a 4-0 start and on the brink of reaching the state Class C rankings, F-P proved quite formidable, jumping all over the Bears in an 18-7 first-quarter blitz to take control.
By halftime, the deficit was 35-17, and Chittenango never really got on track until the fourth quarter, when the game was long settled.
Jordan Sass led the Bears with 14 points. No one else hit double figures, though, as Conor Delaney, with six points, got closest to that mark. F-P’s Stewart Wright, who surpassed 1,000 career points earlier this month, burned Chittenango for 28 points, while Nate Scalisi and Jarrett Gummoe had 15 points apiece.
