At the start of the fourth quarter of last Tuesday night’s game, the Westhill girls basketball team enjoyed a comfortable lead over Phoenix – but everyone on hand knew that Bishop Ludden was in the same situation 12 days earlier, and the Firebirds rallied to beat the Gaelic Knights.
Determine to avoid this fate, the state Class B no. 13-ranked Warriors calmly worked its way through the homestretch and was not seriously threatened by Phoenix, eventually prevailing by a 50-35 margin.
As a foundation for its victory, Westhill played some of its best defense of the season, limiting the Firebirds throughout the first half while moving out in front. Then it outscored Phoenix 19-10 in the third quarter to extend that lead to 44-25.
Unlike with Ludden, the Firebirds couldn’t climb out of that deficit, despite 13 points, six rebounds and four assists from Samantha Doupe and 10 points and eight rebounds from Natalie Hart.
All game long, Westhill’s Mackenzie Martin proved difficult to contain, putting up a game-high 22 points. Helping out, Katelyn Karleski had 14 points, with Morgan Elmer and Erica Gangemi earning six points apiece.
For its part, Bishop Ludden still sat at no. 8 in the state Class B rankings following a lopsided defeat to Bishop Kearney on Jan. 28, but in its next outing the Gaelic Knights rebounded in a big way, handling Jordan-Elbridge 64-34.
Wasting little time, Ludden steadily built a 32-15 halftime lead and then really put the Eagles away with a 22-2 third-quarter blitz. Aurora Deshaies had 17 points and eight rebounds, with Danielle Rauch getting 14 points, seven assists, five steals and four rebounds.
Helping out, Meg Sierotnik had nine points, six steals and five rebounds as Grace Murry stepped up with seven points and five rebounds. On J-E’s side, Allison Jennings had 14 points, with Emily Somes earning seven points, Alexis Braun six points and Emily Klock five points.
Ludden was set for a big showdown at Hannibal Thursday night, but lake-effect snow in Oswego County forced a postponement. Solvay also had a game with Altmar-Parish-Williamstown snowed out that night.
But Jordan-Elbridge did play, against Chittenango, and stunned the Bears 53-47. Despite entering the game with a 4-12 record, and despite falling behind 18-8 after one period, J-E stuck with it and closed most of that gap by halftime. Then it held the Bears to eight points in the third quarter while going in front, 39-35, and withstood all of Chittenango’s comeback attempts.
J-E won with 21 points from Alexis Braun, 14 points from Emily Somes and 10 points from Emily Klock. All of his negated the work by the Bears’ Ally Shoemaker, who had 18 points and 10 rebounds as Cassidy Kelly added 11 points and Trisha Whaley got nine rebounds.
To start its week, Solvay had to deal with state Class B no. 15-ranked Bishop Grimes and lost, 64-37, to the Cobras. Though it stayed close for a half, the Bearcats still trailed, 28-21, at intermission, and the Cobras made a 22-11 push through the third quarter to get away.
Elle Hodge, Aleah Yaizzo and Johnae Crenshaw each finished with eight points, with Yaizzo adding six assists and three bounds and Hodge getting six rebounds. Nadea Davis earned six points and six rebounds. Camille Devereaux had seven assists as Grimes got 22 points from Azariah Wade and 17 points from Brianna Squier.
Marcellus then played Grimes on Thursday night and met the same fate in a 72-45 defeat, though in this instance the Cobras decided matters early, racing out to a 25-5 lead by the end of the first quarter and leading 44-16 by halftime.
True, the Mustangs played on even terms the rest of the way, but its top scorer, Liz White, had just 10 points as Sydney Lewis (nine points), Eve Hughes (seven points, five rebounds, three steals, three assists, two blocks) and Grace Hoey (six points) followed. Wade and Abby Wilkinson each had 18 points to lead the Grimes effort.
