Though it earned four consecutive victories in December, the Skaneateles girls basketball team hit a far rougher patch before it hit the holiday break.
First, the Lakers took a Dec. 17 defeat at defending Section III Class B champion Westhill. Then it went to that same neighborhood Monday night to meet Bishop Ludden and, like previous foes, could not contain Danielle Rauch in a 53-34 defeat to the Gaelic Knights.
Any game against Ludden carries extra weight since Skaneateles head coach Jill Blasi is a Ludden graduate and also coached at that school before going to the Lakers, but Rauch didn’t care much for sentiment.
Having notched a triple-double in her previous outing against Jordan-Elbridge on Dec. 18, Rauch tried to top that here, anchoring an effort where the Gaelic Knights controlled matters on both sides of the floor, especially on defense, where it shut down Skaneateles for much of the first half.
Trailing 31-11 at halftime, the Lakers did improve during the second half, seeing Shannon Foehl hit four 3-pointers on her way to 18 points overall and Chloe Metz add 10 points. Yet that duo had all but one of Skaneateles’ field goals, the other one attained by Rachael Smith as neither Olivia Dobrovosky nor Bailey Herr managed a field goal against Ludden’s defense.
By contrast, Rauch filled up the stat sheet again, earning 24 points, but also getting nine rebounds, eight assists and six steals. Ally Weigand added 10 rebounds, as her six points matched the totals of Sara Hayes and Meg Sierotnik.
Two nights later, Skaneateles played its third straight road game, at Cortland. On Saturday, the Lakers meet Oneida in the opening round of the More Than A Game Tournament at Onondaga Community College’s SRC Arena, with a game set for Sunday against South Jefferson or East Syracuse Minoa.
Then it’s the turn of the Skaneateles boys basketball team in that same More Than A Game Tournament on Monday as it takes on neighbor and rival Marcellus, with the next game against either Bishop Grimes or Susquehanna Valley, from Section IV.
And those Lakers go into the tournament having lost back-to-back games. After its first defeat of the season to Westhill on Dec. 17, the Lakers looked to bounce back Tuesday against visiting Syracuse Academy of Science, but could not quite do so, falling to the Atoms 72-65.
Ultimately, Skaneateles paid for poor first-quarter defense, as SAS bolted out to a 24-12 lead. To its credit, the Lakers fought back, pulling within five, 36-31, by halftime, and throughout the second half it continually threatened to catch the Atoms.
Pete Knupp, shut down in his previous effort by Westhill, roared back to life with 25 points, including six 3-pointers. Jake Reed worked inside for 16 points, while Marc Pietropaoli finished with 10 points.
Still, it wasn’t quite enough, since SAS landed five players in double figures. Jessie Murray led the Atoms with 20 points and nine rebounds, while Symir Torrence had 15 points. Khari Odoms gained 12 points, with Nessiah Smith (11 points) and Kenyang Lual (10 points)
