History didn’t repeat for the Westhill girls basketball team when the Section III Class B playoff pairings were announced – but it did go in reverse.
As expected, the 18-1, state no. 3-ranked Warriors drew the top seed for the sectional tournament, plus a first-round bye, but found out that it could face Bishop Grimes in the quarterfinals and, down the road, state no. 10-ranked Bishop Ludden in the semifinals if it wanted to get to the Feb. 28 title game at SRC Arena.
It was, in short, identical to the path Westhill took a year ago to regain the sectional title, working from a no. 8 seed and stunning the then-top-seeded Grimes on the way to an eventual sectional title. Now it’s Grimes as the no. 8 seed, having routed Adirondack 65-10 to get a chance at ultimate revenge against the Warriors on Tuesday night.
For its part, Ludden had the no. 4 seed, but no first-round bye. Instead, it had to face no. 13 seed Jordan-Elbridge in last Friday’s opening round, and not only did the Gaelic Knights rout the Eagles 72-37, it saw Danielle Rauch get a milestone few sophomores ever reach.
The game was decided in the middle stages, Ludden outscoring J-E by a combined 46-18 margin in the second and third periods, so by the fourth quarter the only question was whether Rauch would end up, numbers-wise.
Sure enough, with a basket, Rauch surpassed 1,000 career points, all while recording her ninth triple-double of the season – 25 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds, plus four steals. Laura Patulski had 16 points, Ally Weigand (eight points), Sara Hayes (seven points) and Aurora Deshaies (six points) helped, too.
J-E had no one score in double figures. Emily Somes earned nine points, with Alison Jennings adding eight points and Alexis Braun six points. A season full of improvement for the Eagles concluded with a 10-11 mark.
While Westhill battles with Grimes, Westhill will meet no. 5 seed Sherburne-Earlville (who ousted Cazenovia 45-36) in its Class B quarterfinal.
