Two streaks ended – one positive, one negative – for Baldwinsville’s pair of basketball teams before they reached the conclusion of 2021.
In the case of the girls Bees, its season-opening run of six consecutive victories halted in a strange defeat to Section II’s Shaker during Monday’s opening round of the Amsterdam Tournament.
Twice during the game, fire alarms that were set off in the Amsterdam High School building forced players, coaches, officials and spectators to clear the gymnasium, causing long delays.
Thus, it took 2 ½ hours for the game to finish, at least an hour longer than typical. And it happened as the Bees and Blue Bison traded the lead 13 times.
Eight straight points to close the third quarter had put B’ville in front 36-33, but Shaker regained the lead late and kept it despite Kyrah Wilbur picking up 13 points and Ola Bednarczyk adding 11 points. Sydney Huhtala and Jayda Pyle added eight points apiece.
Back at Amsterdam to face Penfield (Section V) a day later, the Bees would not have to worry about any interruptions and rebounded to defeat the Patriots 48-40.
A big first quarter proved the difference, B’ville jumping out in front 14-5 and then spending the rest of the game answering every time the Patriots tried to close the gap.
Balancing out its attack well, the Bees saw Wilbur and Huhtala both finish with 12 points, with Bednarcyzk close behind as she got 11 points.
On Thursday, B’ville was back home, facing Rochester Mercy, and took another close loss to the Monarchs, this one by a 59-57 margin.
Neither side gained any separation throughout the contest, with Mercy able to hang on late despite 20 points from Huhtala and 19 points from Wilbur. Pyle got nine points as Elizabeth McDonough, with 21 points, paced the Monarchs.
Before all this, Baldwinsville’s boys basketball team saw its own streak end – but this was good news since the Bees had lost five in a row before going to Nottingham Dec. 23 and topping the Bulldogs 55-47.
A big second quarter was pivotal to the outcome, with B’ville outscoring Nottingham 20-10 in that period after falling behind the Bulldogs16-9 early.
Nursing its lead the rest of the way, B’ville again got a big performance from Jason Bifulco, whose 26 points accounted for nearly half the Bees’ production.
Greg Marinelli added 10 points and Dean Welch finished with eight points. Nottingham, in defeat, got 15 points from Malachi McCurty and 13 points from Jaylen Edwards.
Both B’ville teams take on West Genesee and Cicero-North Syracuse in the first full week of 2022.
