On the way to winning its own ‘Best of New York’ Tournament on Dec. 10-11, the Jamesville-DeWitt girls basketball team showed glimpses of its firepower, but more often relied on its trademark defense in tough victories over Bishop Kearney (Rochester) and Cardinal O’Hara (Buffalo).
Contrast that with what happened in the Red Rams’ first road game of the season, last Wednesday night at West Genesee. Meg Hair turned this contest into a scary display of her outside shooting ability, and the Wildcats could do nothing about it as J-D prevailed 82-57.
West Genesee was 2-0, building upon what it had done in 2015-16 in reaching the Section III Class AA final. And against the Rams, there were long stretches in the middle of the game where it traded baskets with the reigning state Class A champions.
Yet J-D had grabbed a 21-10 edge by the end of the first quarter and, in essence, maintained it until a fourth-quarter runaway, and all along Hair kept getting open and kept converting until she had hit a personal-best nine 3-pointers, which accounted for most of her 33 points.
Even without Kasey Vaughan in the lineup again, J-D still had the inside game going well, Jamie Boeheim picking up 19 points as Juila Kelner added 14 points. WG lost despite having four players score in double figures – Camryn Chawgo with 14 points, plus Madison Smith, Mackenzie Smith and Haley Collins with 10 points apiece.
While J-D was handling West Genesee, Fayetteville-Manlius picked up its second win of the season that same night, turning its game with visiting Oswego into a defensive showcase while in the process of beating the Buccaneers 40-26.
That defense was needed since the Hornets had squandered an 11-4 first-quarter lead. Trailing 19-17 at the break, F-M proceeded to limit Oswego to five points in the third quarter and just two points in the final period.
Meanwhile, the Hornets’ attack remained modest, but Alexis Gray got within one rebound of a double-double, finishing with 11 points and nine rebounds. Carly Assimon had nine points, three rebounds and three assists, with Elizabeth Hall getting seven points and six rebounds
Rebecca Sherwood excelled on the defensive end, putting away five blocks and contributing three steals. Abbey Harris had six points as No Oswego player stopped the seven points put up by Clara Culeton.
