East Syracuse — For much of this decade, the Skaneateles girls basketball team’s activities and games, its ups and downs, its successes and setbacks centered around the presence of Elizabeth Lane.

Now, Lane, who spent five seasons on the varsity Lakers roster and broke all kinds of school records, is gone, but the Lakers, coached by Jill Blasi, still figures that it can contend amid a tough Onondaga High School League Liberty division field.

Lane was one of just two seniors who graduated from the 2014-15 squad that reached the Section III Class B semifinal before falling to eventual champion Westhill. What’s left is a squad that fluctuates between seniors like Bailey Herr, Shannon Foehl and Maddy Pinckney with younger stars like freshmen Olivia Dobrovosky, Chloe Metz, Rachael Smith and Hannah Atkinson.

Skaneateles opened its season Tuesday night visiting one of those other main Class B contenders, Bishop Grimes, and led throughout the first half before the Cobras took over in the late going and prevailed by a 49-38 margin.

With just two weeks of practice behind them, Skaneateles and Grimes 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 the Skaneateles lead to 23-20, and extended that run deep into the third quarter, putting together a 16-2 spurt.

Most of it came from sophomore forward Azariah 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.

At the same time, Grimes’ defensive pressure took a cumulative toll on Skaneateles, especially Dobrovosky, who hurt the Cobras with 12 first-half points, but had just three points after the break. Herr had seven points, with Pfoehl contributing six points.

Skaneateles has just one game next week, hosting Cortland on Tuesday night before trips to rivals Marcellus (on Dec. 8) and Cazenovia (on Dec. 11).