Though it earned four consecutive victories in December, the Skaneateles girls basketball team hit a far rougher patch before it hit the holiday break and earned a pair of important victories.

First, the Lakers took a Dec. 17 defeat at defending Section III Class B champion Westhill. Then it went to that same neighborhood last 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, and broke its skid by defeating the Purple Tigers 47-35.

Mostly, the defense won this game, limiting Cortland to seven points in the first, third and fourth quarters as it steadily built its margin. Foehl’s game-high 18 points included three 3-pointers, while Dobrovosky returned to form with 10 points. Herr, with nine points, and Chloe Metz, with eight points, were close behind.

On Saturday, the Lakers met Oneida in the opening round of the More Than A Game Tournament at Onondaga Community College’s SRC Arena, and it turned into a tense classic where Dobrovosky saved a short-handed Skaneateles side in a 57-56 overtime victory over the Indians.

Even without Herr in the lineup, Skaneateles led, 11-8, through one period, and took advantage of an Oneida drought late in the second quarter to go up 22-15 at the break.

That margin got as large as 12 before the Indians used a 16-4 third-quarter burst to tie it, 33-33. From there, it went back and forth through the rest of regulation, and trailing 47-46, the Lakers hit a late free throw to tie it and force overtime.

During that four-minute extra period, Dobrovosky took over. She already had all six of the OT points when, with her team down 56-53, she hit another basket to pull Skaneateles within one.

A big defensive stop led to Dobrovosky having the ball again when she was fouled with 6.2 seconds left. Staying cool, the freshman sank both free throws, giving her 20 points for the gave, and they proved the winning points when a last-second Indians shot went off target.

Foehl, taking on a larger role in Herr’s absence, hit three 3-pointers and finished with 14 points overall. Metz had seven points, with Maddy Pinckney contributing seven points.

This sent Skaneateles into the Pool 2 Tournament final against state Class B no. 6-ranked South Jefferson, who proved why that ranking wasn’t a fluke by handling the Lakers 64-36.

Skaneateles did keep up with the Spartans during the first quarter, only trailing by two, 15-13, but that changed during the second period. Combining full-court defensive pressure with hot outside shooting, South Jefferson outscored the Lakers 22-5 in those eight minutes, taking command for good.

Pinckney still managed a team-high 11 points, while Dobrovosky and Metz had seven points apiece. Foehl got six points as the Spartans’ Jenna Zimmerman, named tournament MVP, had 17 points, hitting three of her team’s nine 3-pointers.