In a short time, the West Genesee girls basketball team has made up the ground with Cicero-North Syracuse. Whether it surges ahead remains an open question.
When the Wildcats hosted the Northstars last Tuesday night, C-NS was without its best player, Amani Free, and WG took full advantage, with hot early-game shooting and a fine all-around effort that produced a 59-39 victory.
Free was out due to an injury suffered in a tournament in New York City the weekend before. Without her,, the Northstars were dealing with a WG side that had won six straight since C-NS beat them 58-53 in mid-December, a game that featured 32 points from Free, who could not help now.
Knowing this, the Wildcats settled matters with a first-quarter blitz that produced a flurry of baskets and a 25-7 advantage. For the rest of the night, C-NS was in catch-up mode.
Mya Case and Alyesha Castanon each hit on three 3-pointers, Case finishing with 16 points and Castanon getting all nine of her points from those shots.
Madison Smith had 10 points, with Catie Cunningham also getting nine points and Mackenzie Smith contributing seven points. For C-NS, only Jessica Cook produced on a consistent basis, the freshman forward earning 15 points.
WG did not want to have a letdown Thursday night at Nottingham, who had given top opponents plenty of trouble throughout the season, and the Wildcats did make it eight wins in a row, beating the Bulldogs 65-47.
Copying what it had done against C-NS, WG didn’t let up until it had a 23-6 lead at the end of the first quarter, and also outscored Nottingham 20-9 in the third period.
Cunningham broke out on this night, pouring in a game-high 16 points, while each of the Smith sisters finished with 13 points and Walker contributed 11 points.
On Saturday, the Wildcats had a non-league game at Elmira (Section IV), and it was here that the win streak ended, WG falling 52-46 to the Express as it fell behind 16-9 in the first quarter and spent the rest of the game trying to catch up.
Walker had a breakout effort, her 15 points matching those from Madison Smith. Mackenzie Smith had six points, and the rest of the roster combined for just three field goals against a tough Elmira defense.
That same Saturday, Marcellus would host its neighbors from Skaneateles, and nearly make a big comeback before falling short in a 62-59 defeat to the Lakers.
Led by Olivia Dobrovosky, who had 22 points, Skaneateles gained a 37-22 lead by halftime, and that margin held until the fourth quarter, when the Mustangs nearly made all of it up with a 20-8 push.
The problem was that no Marcellus player got close to Dobrovosky’s totals, despite all 10 that saw action getting at least one field goal. Sarah Fallon led with just 12 points, while Emma MacLachlan had nine points. Claudia Leubner got eight points and Hannah Durand managed seven points.
Elsewhere, Jordan-Elbridge took a tough 48-46 defeat to Cato-Meridian last Tuesday night. Down by eight to the Blue Devils late in the third quarter, the Eagles crawled back into the game by the fourth quarter.
With a minute left, Katie Goodrich’s 3-pointer tied it, 46-46, but Cato responded as Miranda Myhill-LaForce hit a driving layup with 20.6 seconds left. A possible go-ahead 3 by J-E went off the rim in the waning seconds.
A night later, J-E returned home and handled Mexico 66-27, getting plenty of production from several different sources. Ashlee Eaton led with 13 points, but Goodrich and Allison Jennings were close behind as they got 12 points apiece.
J-E lost, 66-33 to Bishop Grimes Friday night, the game getting away when the Cobras outscored the Eagles 19-1 in the second quarter.
Jennings still finished with 13 points, while Alexis Braun had eight points and Eaton had seven points. For Grimes, Bri Squier had 17 points and Abby Wilkinson matched Jennings’ total of 13 points.
Solvay fell to Skaneateles 58-26 last Tuesday, with Aleah Yaizzo getting seven points. Carly Devereaux and Alicia Salvagni had six points apiece. Yaizzo added four steals, four assists and three rebounds as Dobrovosky and Olivia Navaroli gained 16 points apiece to lead the Lakers.
