More than 10 months had passed, and while the setting and stakes were quite different, the result – Jamesville-DeWitt’s girls basketball team defeating Pittsford Mendon – was exactly the same.
Just as in the 2017 state Class A final at Troy’s Hudson Valley Community College, the Red Rams prevailed over the Vikings, but unlike that game J-D did not have to sweat it out until the wire.
Instead, the Rams prevailed 54-38, mostly a reflection of a stellar defensive performance that, for much of the game, left Mendon quite uncomfortable.
From its 2017 state finalists, the Vikings had graduated three starters, but were still undefeated and no. 4 in the state Class A rankings as it came to J-D for a contest postponed three weeks earlier by winter weather.
That extra time gave J-D a chance to get lots of games in the books – eight in all, after playing just five times in the opening month. Judging by an 85-28 romp over Auburn the night before facing Mendon, things were starting to click.
Other than giving up the game’s first basket, the Rams never trailed, using back-to-back 3-pointers by Meg Hair to pull out in front in the opening minutes and extending the lead to 15-7 late in the first quarter.
For a while, the Vikings stayed within range, but every possession was a struggle in the face of J-D’s half-court pressure, reinforced by a deep bench that made sure no single player saw too much work.
As it turned out, the biggest shot of the afternoon was Gabby Stickle’s 3-pointer from the corner as the second quarter expired. That stretched the Rams’ lead to 29-19, and foreshadowed a bigger getaway in the third quarter.
It was there that J-D’s defense really took over, holding Mendon without a point for more than six minutes. The Rams didn’t score much in the period, but still managed to nearly double its margin to 42-24 by the early part of the fourth quarter.
Cruising from there, J-D saw Hair finish with 15 points and Stickle get 14 points, with Jamie Boeheim getting nine points and Momo LaClair adding seven points.
All of this followed the Rams’ lopsided win at Auburn, who was 7-4 going into the game, but found itself on the other end of a J-D blitz that created a 41-9 halftime margin.
Five Rams players scored in double figures, with Stickle leading the way as she got 15 points. Hair had 13 points, while LaClair got 12 points, Paige Keeler earned 11 points and Andrea Sumida added 10 points. Kailey McKenna had eight points. J-D takes on East Syracuse Minoa and Cortland this week.
