Throughout this winter, the Jamesville-DeWitt girls basketball team has constantly put itself in difficult spots against teams sitting atop both national and state rankings, and while it’s led to defeats, it’s also created a toughness that no other local side could match.

More adversity was found during the Martin Luther King Jr. Tournament on Jan. 15-16, which concluded with a game against state Class AA no. 1-ranked Long Island Lutheran, where a familiar name to Central New York fans helped the Crusaders down the Red Rams 63-50.

Most of the way, the game stayed close. J-D trailed, 14-10, after one period, and even with lots of chances to catch up in the next two periods, the Rams could not quite do so, and LIL got away in the fourth quarter by outscoring them 22-12.

And at the forefront for Crusaders was Amani Free, who had transferred from Cicero-North Syracuse last spring and now, as LIL’s top forward,  hurt the Rams by pouring in a game-high 23 points and earning 14 rebounds.

J-D couldn’t contain Free, and despite 17 points from Meg Hair and 12 points from Julia Kelner, it didn’t have any individual matching Free’s production, inside or outside. All of Angela Bussone’s nine points came from three 3-pointers. No other Rams player had more than one field goal.

Prior to that, J-D had routed Kellenburg 57-20 in the opening round, playing some of its best defense of the season while also getting production from everywhere in its starting five. Hair led the way with 16 points, with Kelner (11 points) and Jamie Boeheim (10 points) offering the inside support. Kasey Vaughan gained eight points and Momo LeClair added six points.

When the Rams returned home Thursday night to face Central Square, it cared little about the Redhawks’ 10-2 record. Instead, determined to resume its winning form, J-D gradually pulled clear and would prevail by a 61-32 margin.

Even with a 13-1 spurt during the first quarter, the Rams proved inconsistent in the early going, which allowed Central Square to hang close and only trail 31-19 at halftime. Only when J-D started pounding it inside to Kelner (12 points) and Boeheim (10 points) for open looks did things start to get away.

Balancing out J-D’s attack, Hair got 10 points and Vaughan earned all nine of her points from three 3-pointers. Central Square guard Breanna Ransom fired away on outside shots all night, but didn’t hit enough of them, though she did finish with four 3-pointers and 14 points overall.

To end this busy, tough stretch, J-D traveled to the Buffalo area to meet the same Cardinal O’Hara team it beat on Dec. 11 at home. Here, the Rams were on the brink of another win before the Hawks  snatched it from them in the waning moments of the regulation and went on to prevail in overtime 66-57.

At first, it seemed J-D had a major advantage in that O’Hara would not have its top player, Canisius-College bound senior Anndea Zeigler, in the lineup due to a thumb injury. But the Hawks still fought its way to a 24-18 halftime lead before the Rams used a 17-9 third-quarter push to go in front.

All seemed fine when, in the waning moments of regulation, J-D held a 52-47 lead. Then O’Hara’s Giorgia Maniero hit a 3-pointer with 9.9 seconds, cutting the Rams’ margin to two.

Kelner was fouled, and if she made both free throws, J-D would likely clinch it. But Kelner only hit one, keeping it at 53-50, and the Hawks moved the ball up the floor until Cierra Harrison, from the point, fired from 21 feet as the horn sounded – and it swished.

Excited as O’Hara was to force OT, the Rams had a different reaction, and in those four minutes the Hawks got away, keyed by Angel Parker, who made two timely assists and converted a three-point play in between to move O’Hara ahead for good.

Boeheim led J-D’s attack, earning 19 points, while Hair finished with 16 points. Kelner got 13 points as the Rams take a 9-5 record into Friday’s game against Cortland.