Onondaga — Once again, the Skaneateles girls basketball team found itself one game away from playing for the Section III Class B championship – and once again, it was denied that opportunity by a long-time powerhouse.
Having knocked off state no. 4-ranked General Brown in the quarterfinal round last Wednesday night, the no. 6 seed Lakers went for another upset against a Frontier League foe, but never got close to it as no. 2 seed South Jefferson stopped Skaneateles 57-34 Sunday night in the sectional semifinal at Onondaga Community College’s Allyn Hall.
They had met at OCC before, on Dec. 27 in the Hoops for the Hospital Tournament, where the Spartans had won big, 64-36, but Skaneateles did not have Bailey Herr in the lineup.
Yet even with Herr and a full-strength roster present, the Lakers still couldn’t solve the intricate riddle of South Jefferson’s stifling defense, nor contain Quincey Zimmerman, who was hot from start to finish.
At least at the outset, it was far from a rout. The Lakers made some inroads against South Jefferson and, when the period ended, found itself in an 11-11 tie. And that was as good as it would look for Skaneateles the rest of the night.
Over the course of the game’s middle stages, the pattern repeated itself. Skaneateles would try and generate some kind of offense, and nearly every time it got stymied by what the Spartans threw at them. All that the Lakers could manage was 10 combined points in the second and third quarters.
This gave South Jefferson ample opportunity to not only go in front, but pull far away. Zimmerman made sure that happened, converting on 11 field goals and seven free throws to finish with 29 points, more than half her team’s output, and nearly matching the entire Skaneateles roster.
On the Lakers’ side, only Shannon Foehl, with 12 points, and Olivia Dobrovosky, with 11 points, had more than two field goals on the night. Maddy Pinckney added five points, but Herr, Chloe Metz and Riley Pas’cal each got held to two points.
So Skaneateles concludes another solid season with another sectional semifinal defeat (it fell to Westhill a year ago). Three seniors – Herr, Foehl and Pinckney – graduate, but having Dobrovosky, Metz, Pas’cal and Hannah Atkinson back in 2016-17 should keep the Lakers among the mix of contenders.
