For 12 months, the West Genesee girls basketball team worked together, on and off the court, with the singular goal of atoning for last season’s defeat in the Section III Class AA final and erasing a championship drought that stretched back more than two decades.
All that hard work paid off, and the goal was fulfilled, Saturday at Onondaga Community College’s Allyn Hall, where it took a full team effort for the Wildcats to turn back no. 6 seed Liverpool 52-43 and secure that first sectional crown since 1994.
“It means so much for these girls who have put in the work and deserve this,” said WG head coach Stafford Spreter.
Entering the final, WG had won 18 consecutive games. Two of those previous wins in the streak had come against Liverpool, by margins of 60-46 on Jan. 24 and 58-46 on Feb. 7.
Fresh off wins over no. 3 seed Fayetteville-Manlius and no. 2 seed Central Square in the sectional tournament, Liverpool went for the trifecta of toppling the no. 1 seed, but WG would not let that happen.
And the way the game started had much to do with the ultimate outcome. From a swarming defense to crisp execution on the offensive end, WG bolted out to a 17-3 lead in the game’s first six-plus minutes.
Fittingly, the sister tandem of Mackenzie and Madison Smith led that charge, scoring 11 of those 17 points. It was particularly important for Mackenzie Smith to set the tone, since she would face some early foul trouble and sit for a large portion of the second quarter.
“We always start great,” said Spreter. “We have so much energy at the start of games.”
Now it was a matter of sustaining that energy as Liverpool started to fight back. Up by double digits for most of the second quarter, the Wildcats saw Liverpool reserve Bella Barner hit a pair of 3-pointers to cut the margin to 27-19 by halftime.
It got more stressful after the break. Jenna Wike’s 10 points in the third quarter pushed Liverpool even closer, and it got within three, 33-30, late in the period.
Just in time, senior Camryn Chawgo delivered on back-to-back baskets, one of them a 3-pointer, to restore the lead to eight, 38-30, and the Warriors would never get as close again.
“You have to have faith in your teammates,” said Chawgo. “You can’t disappoint them.”
As a whole, WG’s defense played at its best early in the fourth quarter, holding Liverpool without a point for more than three minutes. Chawgo said that all the running the team has done in practice pays off late in games because they don’t wear down and can maintain intensity.
Chawgo, who with fellow senior Elle Lazore was a defensive force throughout the game, put it away with a lay-up and free throw with 1:08 to play that made it 50-38. Chawgo finished with 12 points, matching Madison Smith as Mackenzie Smith added 11 points and Lazore got seven points.
WG will return to Allyn Hall next Saturday to face the Section II champion Shenendehowa in the Class AA regional final, with the winner going to Troy’s Hudson Valley Community College for the March 18-19 state final four.
