When Jenna Costello’s 3-pointer found the net early in the fourth quarter of Thursday night’s game, the Baldwinsville girls basketball team had completed its comeback against West Genesee in a showdown of the CNY Counties League’s top two teams at Baker High School gymnasium.
If only the story had ended there.
Instead, the state Class AA no. 22-ranked Wildcats regrouped and, just like it had done in the game’s opening stages, counted on a suffocating defense to snuff out the Bees’ challenges and prevail by a 47-36 margin, all but clinching the CNYCL regular-season title in the process.
What decided this game was how stingy the Wildcats were at the outset, not allowing a field goal in the game’s first seven minutes, and down the stretch, when it erased a brief deficit and, again, kept B’ville from producing any baskets.
B’ville knew that this game would not resemble its Jan. 6 defeat in Camillus, a 51-25 rout where the Bees were coming off a two-week layoff and played one of its worst games of the season.
Now at 12-4 on the season, B’ville was riding a six-game win streak, though it would go up against the Wildcats without starting forward Carolyn Brussel, out with a thumb injury.
The combination of adjustment without Brussel and the relentless Wildcats pressure led to that first-quarter field goal drought that wasn’t broken until Costello’s 3-pointer in the last minute of the period.
It was Costello, with her 11 first-half points, that helped push B’ville out of its early drought and climb within one, 17-16, midway through the second quarter. Just as quickly, though, WG pushed the margin back to 24-18 by halftime.
Now the Bees met the Wildcats’ intensity and, again, cut into its deficit during the third quarter. And when Costello hit a 3-pointer from the corner in the opening seconds of the final period, B’ville seized a 32-31 lead.
Facing some adversity, WG met it with patience and poise – plus a lot more defense. Following Claire McAllister’s basket with 5:05 to play, B’ville did not convert another field goal, the Wildcats contesting every shot and forcing a rash of turnovers.
Meanwhile, the Wildcats’ balanced offense produced enough as it outscored the Bees 16-4 down the stretch. Six of those points came from Madison Smith, who finished with 12 points, just behind her sister, Mackenzie Smith, who led with 14 points. Haley Collins and Mya Case contributed eight points apiece.
Costello finished with 14 points, plus six rebounds. McAllister was sensational on the glass with a career-best 17 rebounds as she and Kaylee Lammers both earned eight points. Mackenzie Schaffner added six rebounds as Meghan Wilson got five rebounds. Katie Pascale got four assists, four rebounds and three steals.
Part of the challenge B’ville faced from West Genesee was the quality of the opponent, but another part was the fact that the Bees were playing for the third time in four days, never an easy thing to do, regardless of opposition.
To its credit, the Bees had handled the first two parts of that equation, starting with last Monday night’s 58-32 romp over Rome Free Academy that clinched a winning record for the 2016-17 season.
Steadily, B’ville got away from the Black Knights, leading 28-18 at halftime and outscoring RFA 15-7 each of the last two periods, with Lammers leading the offense as she netted 17 points.
Close behind her, Costello had 12 points and four rebounds, while Alena Criss reached double figures with 11 points, also getting four rebounds. Pascale dished out seven assists. Brussel (before her injury) and Schaffner each had six rebounds, Bruseel adding four assists and three steals.
Going to Corcoran 24 hours later, B’ville won big again, bashing the Cougars 62-30. The pace was torrid from the outset and Corcoran could not keep up as the Bees steadily marched to a 54-25 advantage by the end of the third quarter.
Costello had a season-best total of 19 points, adding seven rebounds, while Pascale amassed 11 assists and seven steals to go with six points. Lammers finished with 13 points, while McAllister had nine points, four assists, three rebounds and three steals. Schaffner and Wilson each got six points and four rebounds.
What’s left for B’ville, following the defeat to West Genesee, is a trio of regular-season games, including a Tuesday visit to Nottingham, a Friday visit from Fayetteville-Manlius and a Feb. 13 regular-season finale at home against Cicero-North Syracuse.
