A tough, yet successful regular season on the part of the Skaneateles girls basketball team could turn in either direction, depending on how events over a 24-hour period late last week unfolded.
It didn’t start too well. The Lakers took a 13-4 record into last Thursday’s game against Bishop Grimes, but never recovered from a rough second quarter in a 59-46 defeat to the Cobras.
Essentially, the same thing happened here as what took place to Skaneateles a week earlier in a 65-42 defeat to Westhill Feb. 1, where poor play in a specific portion of the game could mask the efforts elsewhere.
Through an active first quarter, the Lakers only trailed by one, 19-18, but then Grimes applied heavy pressure and shut down Skaneateles for the rest of the half, outscoring them 17-3.
Trying to recover in the second half, the Lakers did get 14 points from Chloe Metz and 10 points from Ryley Pas’cal, but the Cobras held Olivia Dobrovosky to just nine points as Hannah Atkinson got eight points.
Meanwhile, Grimes’ Sarah Snavlin set a career mark with 19 points, mostly from five 3-pointers. That took pressure off Abby Wilkinson, who had 16 points, and Brianna Squier, who got 12 points.
With no time to rest, Skaneateles had to head to Hannibal on Friday, though the Warriors had also played the day before, defeating Solvay 50-40 as Katie Pitcher joined Dobrovosky in surpassing 1,000 career points.
The lack of rest didn’t bother Hannibal, though, as it topped Skaneateles 79-68 in a fast-paced battle that, at first, seemed to favor the Lakers, who rode hot shooting to a 24-13 lead through one quarter.
Over the course of the next two periods, though, the Warriors outscored Skaneateles 44-21 to go out in front, led by McKenzie Mattison, whose 27 points included five 3-pointers as Pitcher added 20 points and Cassie Long had 14 points.
Skaneateles did get four players in double figures, led by Metz, who had 17 points. Most of Dobrovosky’s 15 points came from four 3-pointers as Pas’cal and Maeve Canty had 11 points apiece and Atkinson added seven points.
Once the Lakers were done with Tuesday’s game at Altmar-Parish-Williamstown, it would find out Wednesday where it would start the Section III Class B playoffs.
