Piece by piece, and game by game, the Fayetteville-Manlius girls basketball team is evolving into a Section III Class AA title contender, and for that it can thank a vastly improved defense along with enviable scoring balance.

Both things were on display last Tuesday night during the Hornets’ 52-28 victory over Cicero-North Syracuse, who had to replace all five seniors from last year’s sectional title team and appears unlikely to extend its championship streak to nine consecutive seasons.

In fact, C-NS didn’t score a point in the first quarter against F-M, who built an 11-0 cushion. Throughout the evening, that lead continued to grow, with the Hornets applying pressure that’s helped by the presence of a deep rotation.

Moving to the other side of the ball, the Hornets had 10 different players get on the scoresheet. Alexis Schneider led with 11 points, three rebounds, two assists and two blocks, while Alexandra Vinci had 10 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Lily Fish and Carly Assimon produced seven points apiece, but were more important for other contributions as Fish grabbed eight rebounds and two steals, while Assimon had four rebounds and two assists. Alexis Gray had four rebounds, with Natalie Amico and Maria Angelo earning four points apiece.

F-M rolled again at Nottingham Friday night, handling the Bulldogs 56-26 in a game where its defense got better as the night went on, holding Nottingham to seven points in the second and third periods and just two points in the fourth quarter.

Again, the point production was spread around as Schneider and Assimon led with 10 points apiece and Schneider tacked on nine rebounds, two blocks and two steals. Vinci got nine points, five steals and three rebounds, while Amico and Lily Fish both earned seven points and three rebounds, Fish adding five steals. Gray chimed in with six points and six rebounds.

Bishop Grimes still was undefeated going into 2017 with a 6-0 record, but hadn’t played since a Dec. 22 win over Cortland as weather postponed games during the holiday break.

Still, the Cobras had entered the state Class B rankings in the no. 20 spot and, in its return to action last Saturday afternoon, beat Maine-Endwell (Section IV) 58-34, stifling the Spartans throughout the first half as it built a 33-12 lead and cruising the rest of the way.

Azariah Wade set the pace for Grimes, earning 17 points. Abby Wilkinson finished with nine points, while Brianna Squier and Jenna Sloan each got eight points, Sloan converting a pair of 3-pointers. Molly McInerney finished with six points.