With seven consecutive wins on its ledger, the Fayetteville-Manlius girls basketball team charged toward last Friday’s showdown with CNY Counties League leader West Genesee in Camillus –but the charge halted before it faced the Wildcats, and then things got more difficult.
The Hornets went to Liverpool last Tuesday night and found itself in a tight, low-scoring battle, just like it wants, but here the offense didn’t quite get moving as the Warriors, especially junior Jenna Wike, worked together to beat F-M 48-39.
Throughout a low-scoring first half, the Hornets kept pace, nearly erasing a five-point deficit as it went to halftime trailing by one, 20-19. Liverpool’s defense remained stingy the rest of the way, though, and F-M couldn’t contain the Warriors’ Jenna Wike, who poured in 25 points.
Carly Assimon and Alexandra Vinci still had 10 points apiece, while Elizabeth Hall had eight points and Lily Fish had six points. Helping out Wike, the Warriors’ Kyra Grimshaw finished with 12 points.
The game at West Genesee followed, and while one key player came back, another was out, and the Wildcats shut down F-M most of the way in a 54-33 defeat.
WG had already beaten F-M once this season, by a-48 margin on Dec. 20. The difference a month later was that the Hornets didn’t have its top forward, Alexis Gray, in the lineup due to illness, though it did return Abbey Harris after she was out for several weeks.
Essentially, the Wildcats decided things in the first quarter, not so much in that it sprinted out to a 22-10 lead, but the way it happened. Things were even until Mackenzie Smith, in the span of barely more than a minute, hit two 3-pointers, with a steal and lay-up in between created by WG’s full-court pressure.
All told, the Wildcats sank six 3-pointers in that opening period, with Elle Lazore, Camyrn Chawgo, Mya Case and Madison Smith all connecting beyond the arc by quarter’s end to join Mackenzie Smith.
The rest was left to WG’s defense. Whether with full-court pressure, half-court pressure or with some zone looks, the Wildcats bothered the Hornets all night, especially in a third quarter where a 12-2 run put it out of F-M’s reach.
Once again, WG spread around its production, Mackenzie Smith finishing with 14 points as Chawgo added 13 points. Collins and Madison Smith had seven points apiece and Case gained six points. For the Hornets, Alexis Schneider, with 11 points, and Hall, with 10 points, accounted for most of the production.
On the boys basketball side, Fayetteville-Manlius, still hurting from a one-point defeat to Baldwinsville on Jan. 13, was overwhelmed when Liverpool arrived last Tuesday and handed the Hornets an 87-53 defeat.
Already trailing 20-13 through one period, F-M saw it get away during a second quarter where the Warriors outscored them 29-8. Though the Hornets played better from there, it was far too much to overcome.
Tim Zapisek gained 20 points, including three 3-pointers, while Jawaan Crouch had 10 points and Ryan Salzberg added eight points. Liverpool had 14 different players earn at least one field goal, with Noah Issakinen hitting five 3-pointers on his way to a team-high 17 points as Charles Pride (11 points) and Charlie Meile (10 points) also got into double figures.
Just 24 hours later, F-M made up a previously postponed game with Henninger and lost, 57-45, to the Black Knights. They played on even terms most of the night, yet F-M could not recover from getting held to four points in the first quarter.
Crouch, with 16 points, was the lone Hornets player to score in double figures. Salzberg again finished with eight points as Zapisek and Alex Bychkov got seven points apiece. Jaden Graves, with 20 points, and Kaijah Rodgers, with 12 points, led the Henninger push.
Now the other CNY Counties League leader, West Genesee, brought its 11-0 record and no. 13 state Class AA ranking to the “Hornets Nest” Friday night. This proved far closer than the Liverpool game, but F-M still lost, 77-62, to the Wildcats.
Gradually, WG built its winning margin in the first three periods, accumulating a 64-49 lead. It held on from there and, late in the game, Zachery passed 1,000 career points, finishing the night with 31 points overall as Jack Bova added 14 points before leaving with an ankle injury and Lucas Sutherland added 15 points.
Salzberg, in defeat, enjoyed one of his best efforts of the season, pouring in 24 points to keep the Wildcats from getting too far away. Zapisek earned 15 points, with Nick Goodfellow contributing nine points.
