So far, the new reality of the Jamesville-DeWitt girls basketball team as a reigning state Class A champion matches what it was like before the Red Rams made its long-awaited ascent to the top.
With a pair of hard-fought victories over Bishop Kearney and Cardinal O’Hara, J-D prevailed in its own newly-created ‘Best of New York’ Tournament to commence its 2016-17 season.
The challenge that Rams head coach Rob Siechen faces this winter goes beyond a tough schedule that includes tournament trips to Washington, D.C. during the holiday break and to New York City in mid-January.
From a talent standpoint, J-D does have most of its veteran core (Meg Hair, Angela Bussone, Julia Kelner, Jamie Boeheim and Kasey Vaughan) back, but the rest of the roster includes five freshmen and an eighth-grader, Momo LeClair.
This new tournament would bring together three top teams from across New York State – Albertus Magnus (whom J-D beat in the 2015 state semifinals) from the Hudson Valley, Cardinal O’Hara from the Buffalo suburbs and Bishop Kearney from Rochester.
In the first round Saturday night, O’Hara pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat Magnus 71-60, and then J-D took on Kearney, battling through all kinds of poor play to prevail by a 46-38 margin.
Immediately, the young J-D depth would get tested, since Vaughan would miss both games. Ninth-grader Gabby Stickle started and would make a big impact late in the game.
To start with, though, Hair hit a pair of 3-pointers as part of an opening 13-5 run. The Rams slowed down for a bit, but then closed the first half on a 9-1 run to lead Kearney 27-17 at halftime.
Kearney had its own young lineup that included a pair of eighth-graders, including one (Saniaa Wilson) who was already getting courted by Syracuse University, and it didn’t flinch, chipping away at J-D’s lead throughout the second half as Wilson worked her way to a game-high 17 points.
However, the Rams’ vaunted defense made Kearney work for every single opportunity, and when it was needed, J-D got the baskets to stay out in front,
Stickle earned five of her eight points in the final period, while Boeheim got 10 points and Kelner six points. Hair’s lone baskets of the second half proved quite timely, as one 3-pointer ended a four-plus minute drought in the third quarter and another, with 34 seconds left after Kearney cut the margin to five, sealed the victory.
This set up a final Sunday afternoon between J-D and Cardinal O’Hara, which proved just as close, and again saw the Rams depend on its mix of proven veterans and youthful poise to pull out a 60-54 victory.
Applying lots of defensive pressure, O’Hara traded baskets in the early going and then led for most of the second quarter, though never more by six points. J-D kept turning the ball over, largely unable to get the ball inside to its forwards, Kelner and Boeheim.
Hair was shut out, too, until a 3-pointer midway through the second period, which seemed to spark the Rams as it fought back to tie it, 24-24, by halftime, and take the lead for good early in the third quarter with an 8-0 spurt as Kelner (who finished with 13 points) and Boeheim (who got seven points) started to get open looks and converted.
Yet every time the Rams tried to get away, O’Hara would fight back as the pace increased down the stretch. Part of J-D’s answer came from LaClair and freshman Paige Keeler, who each scored five points in the fourth quarter.
It got tense again when O’Hara, trailing 56-48 with two minutes, pressed, forced turnovers and produced six consecutive points.. Cierra Harrison’s pair of free throws with 48 seconds left cut J-D’s lead to two, 56-54.
Accustomed to late-game pressure against elite foes, J-D avoided mistakes and got the ball to Hair, who hit four consecutive free throws in the waning seconds, sealing the Rams’ weekend sweep. Hair finished with 15 points.
Just before the final, Albertus Magnus beat Bishop Kearney 59-52 in the consolation game. In a reflection of the tournament’s quality of play, all of the games went to the final minutes with the outcome in doubt.
For its first game against a local foe Wednesday night, J-D will visit West Genesee, a Class A sectional finalist last winter and off to its own 2-0 start thanks to wins over Oswego and Rome Free Academy.
