East Syracuse — Two days before Thanksgiving, the Bishop Grimes girls basketball team’s latest championship quest got underway.

Expected to vie for both OHSL Liberty division and Section III Class B honors, the Cobras faced immediate adversity in Tuesday night’s season opener against visiting Skaneateles, but combined inside and outside play in the second half to come back and beat the Lakers 49-38.

Grimes lost two key seniors – Jordan Vaught and Teresa Shattuck – from a 2014-15 squad stunned by eventual champion Westhill in the sectional Class B quarterfinals. But it also has a large returning cast, from seniors Katy McInerney and Marissa Hartley to the sophomore trio of Azariah Wade, Brianna Squier and Maria Naylor.

With just two weeks of practice behind them, Grimes and Skaneateles would have a fair share of opening-game mistakes, but the Lakers did a better job working through them, breaking out of a 9-9 tie with a 12-3 run that ran deep into the second quarter.

But the game turned when the Cobras closed the first half with five straight points, cutting its deficit to 23-20, and extended that run deep into the third quarter, putting together a 16-2 spurt.

Most of it came from Wade, who thrived when finally able to get the ball after Grimes settled for outside shots for a majority of the first half. Of Wade’s team-high 15 points, 11 of them came in the third period.

Still, it took four 3-pointers in the final period to help the Cobras put the game away. Hartley connected on two of them, on her way to 11 points, a total that Squier matched as Naylor added six points.

At the same time, Grimes’ defensive pressure took a cumulative toll on Skaneateles, especially on freshman guard Olivia Dobrovosky, who hurt the Cobras with 12 first-half points, but had just two points after the break.

continued — Grimes gets some more time to practice before returning to action Dec. 3 against Central Square, the precursor to a tough stretch that includes consecutive games against Bishop Ludden, Indian River and defending sectional Class B champion Westhill.

The opening act for Jamesville-DeWitt, who has lost in each of the last two state Class A finals, came on Friday afternoon at Whitesboro, a rematch of last year’s sectional Class A final.

Once again, the Red Rams came out on top, turning back the Warriors 61-35 in a game where J-D was in control from the outset, not letting up on Whitesboro until it had a 39-16 halftime lead.

All 11 players that saw action picked up at least two points, with Meg Hair earning 15 points and Carly O’Hern adding 14 points. Kasey Vaughan and Jamie Boeheim stepped up with seven points apiece as Whitesboro’s top scorer, Lauren Lapertosa, had just nine points.

As Bishop Grimes and J-D found success, East Syracuse Minoa met with a different result, falling to Marcellus 46-30.

The Spartans never recovered from a first half where it fell behind, 29-11, though it did outscore the Mustangs 12-6 in the third quarter to briefly make things interesting. Athena Thomason led ESM with 12 points, while Brigid McGinley had 10 points. Liz White (14 points, five steals) and Eve Hughes (10 points, five rebounds) paced Marcellus.