Now the big work began for the Jamesville-DeWitt girls basketball team, in the form of a busy slate that culminated with a weekend tournament appearance in New York City.

And it was there that the Red Rams took its first defeat of the season on Saturday, falling 51-41 to Whitney Young, a Chicago-based school who contained J-D’s attack, though Meg Hair still had 15 points and Jamie Boeheim had 11 points Against McDonogh, from the Baltimore Area, on Sunday, J-D lost again, 51-31.

To warm up, J-D went to Cortland last Tuesday and ripped past the Purple Tigers 74-23, the activity including a 20-4 first quarter and a 17-0 shutout in the third period.

All 10 Red Rams players that saw action earned at least one field goal, with Hair and Sydney Baker each getting three 3-pointers as Hair had 18 points and Baker 11 points. Paige Keeler had nine points and Kasey Vaughan eight points as Gabby Stickle got seven points. Boeheim and Momo LaClair had six points apiece.

Even more impressive was Thursday’s 76-26 rout of Fulton. The Red Raiders were 7-4 going into the game, yet got run over as the Rams worked its way to a 38-11 halftime lead and kept pulling further away.

Hair led with 17 points, while Stickle gained 13 points. Boeheim (12 points) and Keeler (10 points) also hit double figures.

Entering the week with a 7-2 record, Bishop Grimes had no trouble handling ITC/Fowler last Monday night, prevailing 70-32 as it bolted out to a 26-6 lead by the end of the first quarter.

Though that blistering pace was impossible to maintain, the Cobras still put five players in double figures. Bri Squier, with 15 points, led the way as Lora Marial produced 12 points. Maria Naylor and Adut Mo each had 11 points as Abby Wilkinson got 10 points and Jenna Sloan had six points.

It figured to get tougher in Thursday night’s game against Hannibal, where Grimes got off to the worse possible start, but still managed to recover and rally and claim a 53-44 victory.

Hannibal was nearly perfect in the first quarter, and led 18-4 at the end of that frame. But the Cobras chipped away at that margin the rest of the half and then staged its own third-quarter push, surging in front, 38-33.

And it went from there, Squier producing 16 points as Sloan and Sarah Snavlin gained nine points apiece. Wilkinson and Rhonee Shea Paul each got eight points as, for Hannibal, Cassie Long and Katie Pitcher both had 13 points, with McKenzie Mattison earning 12 points.

Fayetteville-Manlius had its second meeting with Liverpool in less than two weeks, but lost again to the Warriors, this time in a 57-44 decision.

The Hornets fell to Liverpool 50-47 on Dec. 29. In the rematch, F-M, trailing at halftime, outscored the Warriors 15-7 in the third quarter, led by Lexie Roe, who poured in 23 points to lead all scorers/

Thus, it was 33-32 going to the final period, but then Warriors got away for good, pushed there by Jenna Wike, who finished with 20 points and six rebounds. Kyra Grimshaw added 16 points, also getting six rebounds and providing the second option F-M lacked next to Roe, though Lexy Gray did have eight points.

Tough as that was, F-M’s 49-48 defeat to defending Section III Class AA champion West Genesee was more difficult to take because the Hornets had played so well on both ends during the first half.

Combining stout defense with hot shooting from Roe, F-M built a 26-13 advantage going into the break. Yet WG erased all of it by outscoring the Hornets 22-8 in the third quarter.

Roe would finish with 21 points, most of it from five 3-pointers, and Alexandra Vinci picked up 13 points as Lily Fish got six points. WG completed the comeback as Madison Smith, with 17 points, got help from Mackenzie Smith and Mya Case, who had nine points apiece.

In Sunday’s Pathfinder Bank Zebra Classic at Le Moyne College, Christian Brothers Academy met up with “Holy War” rival Bishop Ludden and put up quite a fight against the state Class B no. 5-ranked Gaelic Knights.

Still, the Brothers lost, 59-39, with Brooke Jarvis putting up 20 points, only to see Ludden drain 11 3-pointers, five of them by Karleigh Leo, which accounted for all of her 15 points as University of Michigan-bound senior Danielle Rauch also had 15 points.

East Syracuse Minoa took a 58-25 defeat to Auburn last Tuesday night. Only Holly Carr, with 12 points, and Angelina Thomason, with seven points, had more than one field goal as Jania Freeman (11 points) and Eboni Ali (10 points) paced the Maroons.