With its eight-game win streak snapped by Westhill on Feb. 1, the Bishop Grimes girls basketball team badly wanted to restore the level of confidence that created the win streak in the first place.
The key to it all was Saturday’s game against Bishop Ludden, against whom it would complete a regular-season sweep on Saturday afternoon, pleasing a large home crowd in East Syracuse as it toppled the Gaelic Knights 56-41 to finish the regular season with a solid 14-4 mark.
Back on Jan. 9, Grimes had gone to Ludden and prevailed 48-44, and that was without Tina Hoag in the lineup. She was back now, playing her most extensive minutes since the December ankle injury, and made quite an impact.
Hoag and backcourt mate Jordan Vaught, had 13 combined points as Grimes went in front of Ludden 18-12, overcoming Danielle Rauch’s eight points in the first quarter.
For much of the second quarter, it looked like Ludden would take control, inching into a one-point lead, 25-24, before Katy McInerney’s basket put the Cobras back in front 26-25 going to halftime.
Two things happened in the second half to help Grimes get away. On the defensive side, the Gaelic Knights could not get any inside penetration and were forced into jump shots, and that silenced the forward duo of Nicole Granteed and Gemma O’Kane, who had just one field goal apiece.
At the same time, Ludden’s defense could not keep Hoag and Vaught from hurting them, as each of them finished with 15 points to overcome Rauch’s game-high 21 points, with McInerney adding eight points. Shattuck and Megan Costello had five points apiece.
Another girls team in search of some strong late-season efforts, Fayetteville-Manlius, would have back-to-back games, starting on Thursday night against visiting Baldwinsville, where on Senior Night the Hornets flourished and recorded a 69-54 victory over the Bees.
Both teams started fast, with B’ville keeping pace and only trailing 21-20 after one period. But F-M started to get away in the second quarter, where it outscored the Bees 15-6.
From there, the chase was on, and the Hornets would not get caught.Lauren Getman was determined to make her Senior Night a great one, pouring in 23 points as she dominated in the paint.
Fellow senior Madison Beck was sharp, too, earning 13 points, while D’Jhai Patterson-Ricks stepped up to gain 15 points. Erika Stube had seven points and Erica Assimon contributed six points as Rachael Miller (17 points) and Hope DeFazio (15 points) led B’ville’s efforts.
Just 24 hours later, F-M had a chance at knocking off 13-3 Nottingham, but could not quite pull it off, taking a 59-54 defeat to the Bulldogs.
During a frustrating first half, F-M tried to run with Nottingham, but it backfired as its shots would not go down. But the Hornets’ cause got helped when, late in the second quarter, Bulldogs point guard Aliyah Wade went down with an ankle injury and left the game, not to return.
Trailing 29-19 at halftime, F-M made a bit of headway in the third quarter as the game slowed down and it was able to work inside to Getman, who gained 15 points, and Beck, who finished with 13 points. Assimon chimed in with 12 points as Stube (nine points) nearly reached double figures, too.
F-M kept battling, cutting the margin to 55-52 in the last minute and forced Nottingham’s Shauntesha Bryant, who finished with 20 points, to hit four free throws in the waning seconds to help her side hang on. Necedah James contributed 15 points, while Chayanna Canada had 12 points.
