Challenges both large and small confronted the Skaneateles girls basketball team in the months between the end of the 2015-16 season and the start of this winter’s campaign.
The Lakers knew that three seniors – Bailey Herr, Shannon Foehl and Maddy Pinckney – were graduating. What it could not have anticipated was the departure of head coach Jill Blasi, which surprised many.
In her five seasons coaching Skaneateles, Blasi’s teams had gone 69-33, including a 16-7 run last winter that finished with the Lakers reaching the Section III Class B semifinals before falling to South Jefferson.
To replace Blasi, the Lakers tapped a familiar name to local hoops fans – Camille Murphy, who led Corcoran to the 1998 state Class A title before playing at the University of Georgia (where she helped the Bulldogs reach the NCAA Final Four in 2000) and, professionally, with WNBA teams in Washington and Atlanta.
Murphy wasn’t new to coaching, having done so at Green Mountain College in Vermont before returning to Central New York and coaching in the AAU ranks with the Syracuse Royals.
Now, though, it was high school basketball for Murphy, and her first Skaneateles side debuted Tuesday night against Tully, a game that was tight all the way before the Lakers fell to the Black Knights 41-40.
Both sides were cold in the first half, Skaneateles held to two points in the opening period. By halftime, it trailed 16-8, but nearly erased that entire deficit by outscoring Tully 15-8 in the third quarter, setting up a dramatic conclusion.
Throughout the stretch, Hannah Atkinson maintained her good form, setting a career mark with 17 points. Chloe Metz, with 10 points, provided some inside strength, while all of Olivia Dobrovosky’s nine points came from three successful 3-pointers.
Tully won, though, by essentially boiling itself down to a two-player attack that also leaned on its outside shooting. Emily Lantiegne connected five times beyond the arc on her way to 21 points, while Jessica Benedetto hit four 3-pointers on her way to 16 points.
Another non-league game awaits Skaneateles a week later as it visits Central Square next Tuesday before hosting Solvay two nights later in the OHSL Liberty division opener.
