by E. Jay Zarett
All is fine for the Jamesville-DeWitt girls basketball team as another Section III Class A championship, and perhaps a lot more, is in sight.
The no. 2 seed Red Rams scored early and often in Tuesday’s sectional Class A quarterfinal against no. 7 seed Christian Brothers Academy, getting the game’s first 26 points and cruising to a 68-18 victory over the Brothers.
This lopsided margin was nothing new, since J-D topped CBA, 55-32 and 66-14, in the team’s two regular-season meetings.
“It’s tough playing a team a third time,” Red Rams head coach Rob Siechen said. “But we know that if we do what we need to do that we are usually tough to beat.”
Kasey Vaughan set the tone early for J-D, knocking down two 3-pointers from the left elbow extended on consecutive possessions to open the game.
“I felt a lot of momentum going into the game,” Vaughan said. “We have a lot of shooters on our team and once someone gets going, the rest of the team will get going. It just got us off to a nice start.”
Over the next five minutes, the Red Rams knocked down three more 3-pointers, while CBA did not get on the scoreboard until the 1:43 mark of the quarter. Eighth-grader Momo LaClair knocked down one more triple—giving the Red Rams a total of six in the first eight minutes—before the end of the period, extending J-D’s lead to 29-2.
“(Our) first quarter was great,” Siechen said. “We played hard. We did what we wanted to do.”
J-D knocked down three more 3-pointers in the second quarter and kept up its defensive pressure, holding CBA to just two points in the period, just as it had in the first quarter. The Rams headed into halftime with a commanding 40-4 advantage.
“It makes it easier for us,” Vaughan said about her team jumping out to an early lead. “If we could get to a big lead, then we settle in a lot better and get more comfortable.”
CBA never managed to get close in the second half. Four players reached double-figures for the Red Rams, led by 17 from Jamie Boeheim. Vaughan finished with 11 points and knocked down three 3-pointers, while LaClair and Meg Hair chipped in 10 points apiece.
J-D returns to action on Sunday at Onondaga Community College’s Allyn Hall in a semifinal match-up with no. 3 seed Oswego, who knocked out Homer 53-44 to get this far. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30, right after the first semifinal pits top seed Whitesboro against no. 4 seed Indian River.
