Now both of West Genesee’s basketball teams are in top form, just in time for their appearances in the Section III Class AA playoffs.
With the girls Wildcats, a sectional title defense seems quite possible, and it started the last full week of the regular season with a productive trip to Corcoran last Tuesday night.
WG’s 64-34 victory over the Cougars was settled by halftime as the Wildcats, applying lots of pressure on defense and turning Corcoran’s mistakes into baskets, gained a 42-13 advantage.
Each of the nine WG players that saw action got at least one field goal, with Mackenzie Smith at the forefront as she sank five 3-pointers to account for most of her 18 points.
Haley Collins and Kaitlyn Walker finished with 10 points apiece, while Aleysha Castanon, with seven points, topped the total of Madison Smith, whose six points came from a pair of 3-pointers. Corcoran’s Tayahja Scott led her side with 16 points.
Back at home Friday night to face Fayetteville-Manlius, WG honored its trio of seniors – Collins, Mya Case and Bailee Legnetto, and proceeded to leave the Hornets far behind them in a devastating 67-29 romp.
Aside from wanting to honor the seniors, WG’s players vividly remembered how F-M nearly beat them in a 49-48 thriller a month earlier, and were bent on making things easier this time around.
Even with a trio of 3-pointers from Case in the first quarter, F-M kept pace, and was only down by four, 25-21, deep into the second period. But WG closed the half on a 12-0 run, and set the tone for the rest of the night.
From that point in the second quarter onward, the Wildcats outscored the Hornets 42-8, and everyone got involved, whether it was Case’s 14 points or Madison Smith also hitting four 3-pointers to account for all of her 12 points and matching Mackenzie Smith’s total.
Collins had six points and Catie Cunningham had eight points, but the night’s biggest cheers were saved for Legnetto, who in the fourth quarter poured in nine points, including a pair of 3-pointers.
Meanwhile, fresh off its big road win at Henninger on Feb. 2, the West Genesee boys basketball team maintained that momentum on Senior Night against Corcoran, the Wildcats pushing past the Cougars 87-72.
Leading from the outset, WG, who beat Corcoran 71-68 early in January, doubled up Corcoran 22-11 in the first quarter. Then it protected that double-digit margin the rest of the way, matching baskets every time the Cougars tried to speed things up during a fast-paced second half.
A lot of it had to do with the performance of Jack McLane, whose 22 points set a career mark. Remarkably, Lucas Sutherland and Will Amica also put together 22-point efforts, giving the Wildcats three legitimate scoring options.
Thus, Corcoran lost despite a strong attack of its own where D.J. Haynes managed 17 points, while Tyrice Williams and Daimarr Miller had 16 points apiece and De’jour Reaves added 13 points.
Now above the .500 mark (9-8), WG looked for another regular-season sweep, this one over Fayetteville-Manlius Friday night, and pulled it off, defeating the Hornets 61-46.
The Wildcats started out with a 16-8 first quarter. When F-M tried to stay close, WG built the margin to double digits in the third period, with Sutherland earning 18 points and Amica adding 15 points. Kam Jones finished with six points.
Each of the WG teams would take on Baldwinsville early this week, with the boys side also going to Binghamton Tuesday before finding out where it would start the sectional AA tournament.
