Wins in both of its first two games may have reassured the West Genesee girls basketball team that it had not lost the form that propelled them to last winter’s Section III Class AA championship game.
However, a gap still existed between the Wildcats and the area’s best team, as was discovered during last Wednesday night’s 82-57 defeat to reigning state Class A champion Jamesville-DeWitt.
True, the Red Rams did not have one of its top players, Kasey Vaughan, in the lineup, but it did have junior Meg Hair, the leading scorer on the 2015-16 state title team on hand, and with Hair’s hot shooting hand, J-D would roar out to a 21-10 lead by the end of the first quarter.
To its credit, WG did play on fairly even terms over the course of the next two periods, and ultimately would have four players score in double figures. Camryn Chawgo led with 14 points, while Madison Smith, Mackenzie Smith and Haley Collins earned 10 points apiece and Mya Case added seven points.
Even with all that, though, the Rams added to its margin, and Hair didn’t stop until she had sank nine 3-pointers and earned 33 points overall. The Wildcats couldn’t key on her, either, since forwards Jamie Boeheim and Juila Kelner offered the same production, Boeheim scoring 19 points and Kelner adding 14 points.
Then, on Saturday, WG went to Rochester and lost a 68-39 decision to Bishop Kearney, with the hosts using a 19-7 second-quarter run to take control of a game it already led. Chawgo led the Wildcats with 10 points, with Mackenzie and Madison Smith earning seven points apiece. Collins and Aleysha Castanon each got six points.
Elsewhere, Marcellus entered the week with a 4-0 record, but took its first blemish at Chittenango last Tuesday night, paying for a poor second quarter in a 48-42 defeat to the Bears.
Chittenango had lost the night before, to Oneida, but showed little fatigue as it took an early lead and then made its decisive move in the second quarter, limiting Marcellus to four points while producing plenty of baskets and seizing a 28-16 advantage.
This allowed Chittenango to withstand the Mustangs’ 15-7 third-quarter push and still lead, with Marcellus unable to overcome its 35-31 deficit in the final period.
Liz White led the Mustangs with 14 points, while Mei LaMerre had 10 points. Eve Hughes and Sydney Lewis got eight points apiece. Chittenango’s Ally Shoemaker nearly had a double-double with 19 points and nine rebounds, while Cassidy Kelly gained 11 points and Trisha Whaley grabbed 12 rebounds.
None of this would have worried the Mustangs too much if it rebounded Thursday night to beat archrival Skaneateles – but it never got the chance with the game postponed due to winter weather.
