Having completed a regular-season sweep of its neighbors from Westhill, the Bishop Ludden girls basketball team set its sights on other would-be OHSL Liberty division and Section III Class B challengers, expecting to swat them away.
Phoenix, however, did not cooperate. In Thursday night’s game, the Firebirds pulled one of the season’s biggest surprises as, led by Samantha Doupe, it pulled off a gigantic fourth-quarter comeback and defeated the state Class B no. 3-ranked Gaelic Knights 65-62.
With its 9-4 record, Phoenix was a solid opponent. Yet Ludden had rolled past similar competition throughout the winter, including a 76-39 romp over state Class B no. 17-ranked Chittenango two nights earlier.
When the Gaelic Knights outscored the Firebirds 21-8 in the first quarter, this game looked like it would take a similar path. The margin kept growing until, at one point in the third quarter, Ludden was up 46-24, with Aurora Deshaies leading the way as she continually hurt Phoenix with inside baskets.
Everything changed, though, when Danielle Rauch got into foul trouble. Forced to sit for large portions of the second half, Rauch could only watch as the Firebirds cut the deficit to by the end of the third quarter.
Unable to regain the momentum, the Gaelic Knights could not contain Phoenix star Samantha Doupe in the final period. Doupe, who passed 1,000 career points earlier in the week in a win over Marcellus, netted 18 of the Firebirds’ 28 points in the fourth quarter to finish with 35 points overall.
Thus, Ludden lost despite 28 points from Deshaies and 13 points from Laura Patulski. Rauch had a season-low six points as Karleigh Leo got eight points and Taj Huddleston gained seven points.
All of this followed the impressive effort at Chittenango, who entered its game against Ludden 11-1.
What broke things open was the Gaelic Knights outscoring Chittenango 14-6 in the second quarter, but the Gaelic Knights didn’t let up, pouring in 45 second-half points as Deshaies kept getting good looks and converting them, Deshaies finishing with 28 points (just as she would get at Phoenix) and nine rebounds.
Rauch put together 14 points, nine rebounds, seven assists, five steals and three blocks. Patulski added eight points, six rebounds and six assists as Katie Costello got nine rebounds. Chittenango star Ally Shoemaker had 17 points, four rebounds, four steals and four assists.
Westhill’s first game after the Ludden defeat at Le Moyne College on Jan. 14 was an 81-24 romp over Altmar-Parish-Williamstown, a game that included a 28-2 start for the Warriors as it amassed a 50-6 lead by halftime.
It was 74-17 by the fourth quarter, the Warriors unloading as Katelyn Karleski had a career-best 28 points, plus 11 rebounds. Jenna Larrabee gained 19 points, while Mackenzie Martin earned 13 points and Brigid Heinrich added six points.
Then Westhill had its own meting with Chittenango Thursday night, and while not as one-sided as Ludden’s effort, the Warriors still rolled past the Bears 50-30.
Martin poured in 19 points, with nice balance behind her as Morgan Elmer earned nine points, Erica Gangemi gained eight points and Karleski and Larrabee earned seven points apiece. Shoemaker paced Chittenango with 13 points to go with five rebounds and six steals, but no other Bears player had more than five points.
