Much of last week was a quiet one for the Jamesville-DeWitt girls basketball team, but it returned on Saturday from a 10-day break with domination on its mind.
Against visiting Nottingham, the Red Rams prevailed, 70-43, the game played at a brisk that went in J-D’s favor when it outscored the Bulldogs 18-4 in the second quarter, continuing to pull further away from there.
Meg Hair set a career mark by pouring in 23 points, including a trio of 3-pointers. Hair hardly worked alone, though, as Carly O’Hern produced 10 points, just ahead of Julia Kelner (nine points) and Julia Fairbanks (eight points) as every J-D player that saw action recorded at least one field goal.
Even though it was just the second game of the season, Christian Brothers Academy defeating Bishop Ludden on Dec. 4 may have served as an early turning point, especially in the wake of squandering a late lead to Whitesboro earlier that week.
No drama was found in the Brothers’ next outing at Chittenango. During last Monday night’s 58-28 victory over the Bears, CBA had a start similar to the Ludden game, roaring out to an 18-2 first-quarter lead, only here there wouldn’t be a comeback attempt.
Natalie Nardella continued to heat up, earning most of her 18 points from four 3-pointers. Rosalee Winderl remained steady, earning 11 points, while Nafysa Williams and Olivia Carmi had eight points apiece and Paige Nicholson added five points.
Going for three in a row Friday night at Mexico, CBA attained it, defeating the Tigers 48-35 in a game where it used a 14-2 run through the first quarter to build up most of its eventual winning margin.
CBA was up 30-11 by halftime, and cruised the rest of the way with a balanced attack where Winderl led with 11 points, with Nardella and Nicholson adding seven points apiece. Carni finished with six points.
At the other end of the OHSL Freedom division spectrum, East Syracuse Minoa found itself shut down for large portions of last Tuesday night’s 61-13 defeat to Oswego, never able to score more than three points in any single period as the Buccaneers led 33-6 by halftime.
Athena Thomason led with just five points as, for Oswego, Clara Culeton and Kelly Skinner, with 16 points apiece, outscored the entire Spartans roster by themselves, and Abeline Benjamin (13 points) matched ESM’s output.
Going to Central Square on Saturday afternoon, the 0-4 Spartans looked for any sort of improvement, but instead fell 44-24, the game getting away when the Redhawks outscored ESM 14-5 in the second quarter. Thomason and Loren Clifford led with six points apiece as Central Square got 16 points from Lizzy Straub and 12 points from Kalie Schumaker.
Central Square had already upended Bishop Grimes in overtime on Dec. 3, and the Cobras could not immediately recover from that defeat, taking another hit last Tuesday night when it went to Bishop Ludden and lost, 63-40, to the Gaelic Knights.
This was the same Ludden team that had lost to CBA four days earlier, but it turned around in a hurry, steadily handling itself by building a 26-21 halftime lead, and then outscoring the Cobras 22-12 in a wild third quarter to pull further away.
Azariah Wade had a solid showing for Grimes, earning 18 points, while Maria Naylor added nine points, all from a trio of 3-pointers. But no other Grimes players hit a shot beyond the arc, while Ludden had eight of them.
Danielle Rauch starred again for the Gaelic Knights, putting together 25 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and five steals. She got help from Sara Hayes, who had 10 points, seven rebounds and three assists, and Meg Sierotnik, who also had 10 points, plus five steals, four rebounds and three assists.
Suddenly finding itself in a rare two-game skid, Grimes looked to get back on track Saturday against visiting Indian River.
With a Monday showdown against defending Section III Class B champion Westhill looming, the Cobras did get that much-needed win, beating the Warriors 48-35 as it trailed, 13-10, in the early going, but led by halftime and then held IR to a single free throw in a 15-1 third-quarter blitz that proved decisive.
Wade gained 21 points, with Naylor twice making 3-pointers on her way to 12 points overall. Kammikia Barnes led the Warriors with 15 points, but none of her teammates had more than five points.