A massive challenge greets the Skaneateles girls basketball team as it will try to upend defending champion Utica-Notre Dame in Tuesday night’s Section III Class B quarterfinal.
Just to get there, the no. 5 seed Lakers first had to get past no. 12 seed Clinton in last Saturday night’s opening round, and perhaps the extra 24 hours spent waiting out a snow postponement gave Elizabeth Lane time to dream up more ways to dazzle an opponent.
For when they finally took the court, Lane nearly matched Clinton’s entire output by herself and found many different ways to contribute, too, as the Lakers rolled past the Warriors 58-31.
Everything was based on the way Skaneateles played defense in the first half. On nearly every possession, Clinton felt relentless pressure, leading to a string of turnovers, and Joanna Dobrovosky took care of the paint, finishing with 11 blocks and nine rebounds.
Meanwhile, with the Warriors preoccupied with containing Dobrovosky and Nicole Beatson, Lane made them pay for that attention, turning her defensive effort into points on the other end as Skaneateles grabbed a 29-9 halftime lead and stretched the margin to 49-19 by the end of the third quarter.
When Lane went to the bench in the fourth quarter, she had accumulated 25 points, nearly half of it from four 3-pointers, and added eight steals, four rebounds and four assists.
Molly Wood nearly had a double-double of her own, with eight points and nine rebounds. Shannon Foehl also had eight points as Beatson gained seven points.
Before entering the playoffs, Skaneateles, who had won its second straight OHSL Liberty National division title, had one more regular-season assignment to handle – which it did with relative ease, putting up lots of points last Tuesday night as it romped past the Jordan-Elbridge Eagles 67-35.
Even with J-E at 0-17, Skaneateles did not take the game for granted, dashing out to a 24-10 first-quarter lead. The offense slowed down a bit for the rest of the first half, but it atoned with a 22-7 rush through the third period that settled matters.
Beatson managed 20 points, five assists, three rebounds and three steals, with Elizabeth Lane adding 11 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals. Wood, mirroring what she would do against Clinton, earned nine points and eight rebounds, with Sarah Tomlinson adding eight points.
Beating Utica-Notre Dame meant dealing with Iowa State-bound senior Emily Durr, who has scored more than 2,000 career points, one of just eight Section III players ever to pull that off. A berth in the semifinals at Onondaga Community College against Sherburne-Earlville or Bishop Ludden is on the line.
