January ended for the West Genesee basketball teams with a pair of high-profile battles against Liverpool, with the girls seeking to sweep the side it beat in last year’s Section III Class AA final and the boys attempting to disrupt the Warriors’ perfect season.
These games ended just as the first ones did earlier in the month, with the state Class AA no. 20-ranked girls Wildcats relying on its outside shooting to win again 60-52 as the WG boys put up a strong effort at Liverpool, yet took a 77-64 defeat.
In Camillus, West Genesee’s girls welcomed Liverpool for a rematch of their Jan. 3 battle where the Wildcats prevailed 52-43. Here, more points were involved and the Warriors’ Kyra Grimshaw proved unstoppable, but the result was the same.
Even as WG worked its way to a 28-20 halftime lead, Grimshaw was finding space to make shots, especially since the Wildcats were bent on taking away Jenna Wike, who had surpassed 1,000 career points when Liverpool beat Rush-Henrietta three nights earlier.
All through the second half, Grimshaw kept the Warriors in it, ultimately converting 13 field goals, three of them 3-pointers, and amassing 32 points overall. No other Liverpool player hit double figures, with Wike held to eight points.
What made the difference was that WG didn’t rely on a single player to carry the offense. Instead, Mackenzie Smith had 17 points, including three 3-pointers, while Mya Case and Madison Smith had 16 points apiece. Together, that trio hit on nine 3-pointers as Catie Cunningham added eight points.
Meanwhile, at Liverpool, the boys Wildcats were in far better form now than it was when it lost to Liverpool in early January. What was more, the state no. 5-ranked Warriors did not have Charles Pride in the lineup, still out with an ankle injury suffered Jan. 19 against Henninger.
WG knew it had to shoot well, and it did for much of the first half, matching baskets with Liverpool as, led by Lucas Sutherland, the Wildcats only trailed by one, 36-35, at halftime.
Yet like it has done to so many other opponents, the Warriors gradually got away in the second half, sparked by the tandem of forward Nas Johnson, who had 23 points, and Kyle Butler, who poured in 20 points.
By contrast, no Wildcats player got close to Sutherland’s game-high total of 25 points, which was aided by four 3-pointers. Will Amica did have 13 points, with Christian Rossi gaining 12 points as Liam Barry had six points.
It wouldn’t get easier for WG on Friday, as it looked to avenge a 69-57 home defeat to Henninger the previous week – but it did so, needing some last-second heroics from Amica to pull out a 56-55 win over the Black Knights.
A strong second quarter pushed the Wildcats in front, and it stayed there through most of the second half, too. When Sutherland hit a free throw with 46 seconds left, WG stretched its lead to 54-50.
Then it nearly fell apart. Travis Gray’s 3-pointer from the corner cut the margin to one and, when Henninger pressed on the inbounds pass, it forced a turnover that Kaijah Rodgers converted into a reverse lay-up to give the Black Knights a 55-54 lead.
Not using a time-out, WG rushed the ball up the court, and Amica, whose aggressive play had bothered defenders all night, drove to hit a lay-up with 15 seconds to play.
Henninger still had ample time to get a winning shot, but three attempts by three different players to do so fell off target. Sutherland finished the night with 25 points, while Amica had 16 points.
WG’s girls team had handled Henninger 66-38 the night before as Haley Collins up a season-best 15 points and Smith got all 12 of her points from four 3-pointers. Bailee Legnetto had nine points as Mackenzie Smith got eight points. Case and Walker each had six points.
