On the same Thursday night, the Cazenovia and Chittenango girls basketball teams both found themselves up against undefeated front-running sides in the OHSL Liberty division – and both lost.
In the Lakers’ case, it meant traveling to Bishop Grimes, where there was plenty of good stretches, but no way to make up for a rough opening sequence in e 63-42 loss to the Cobras.
All through that opening period, the Lakers struggled to get much going, and its string of mistakes all seemed to lead to baskets on the other end, Grimes not letting up until it had given Cazenovia a 22-5 deficit.
To its credit, the Lakers outscored the Cobras 28-26 in the second and third periods as Lindsey Lawson dominated in the paint, earning 22 points. But no other Cazenovia player had more than the six points from Hannah Matteson.
Grimes also had a go-to player as Abby Wilkinson finished with 23 points, but she had a bit more help as Sarah Snavlin got 11 points, with Maria Naylor and Jenna Sloan adding nine points apiece.
Meanwhile, Chittenango found itself at Westhill, mostly victimized by the Warriors’ defense in a 55-29 defeat as it was held under double digits in every quarter except the third, and by that point the Bears faced a big deficit.
Ally Shoemaker did get 11 points, adding five rebounds and three steals, while Emily Moon had nine rebounds and six points. Cassidy Kelly had five points and three steals.
Other than Shoemaker and Moon, no Bears player had more than one field goal. For Westhill, Katelyn Karleski’s trio of 3-pointers led to 16 points overall as Mackenzie Martin chimed in with 10 points. Erica Gangemi had seven points as Brigid Heinrich, Morgan Elmer and Imani Watts had six points apiece.
Cazenovia played again on Saturday afternoon, a non-league game against Nottingham where the Lakers lost 57-43, struggling for points in the early stages as the Bulldogs held them to seven points each of the first two periods.
Lawson recovered enough to get 13 points, with Jamie Joseph adding 11 points as Laura Connor got eight points. Still, Nottingham got away as Amiyah Williams (16 points), Naviae Williams (12 points) and Lauryn Winthrow (11 points) each scored in double figures.
The Lakers moved up its game with Solvay to Monday night as it also visits Skaneateles Thursday as Chittenango hosted Jordan-Elbridge Tuesday night, two days before a trip to CBA.
