Throughout the first month of its season, the Chittenango girls basketball team has endured plenty of extremes – terrific one night, struggling the next.
It continued for the Bears in its most recent stretch, which included last Saturday’s trip to Onondaga Community College’s Allyn Hall to face Bishop Grimes that resulted in a 49-46 victory over the Cobras.
Steadily, Chittenango built a 26-20 halftime lead, only to have Grimes outscore them 17-7 in the third quarter to go in front. But the Bears rebounded in the fourth quarter, getting big shots from Cassidy Kelly and Sarah Lanphear to help pull it out.
All the while, Ally Shoemaker put together her second triple-double of the season, finishing with 12 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists, plus four steals as Kelly had 11 points, four rebounds and four assists.
Emily Moon chimed in with 10 points and nine rebounds as the Bears overcame a fine effort by Grimes’ 1,000-point scorer, Abby Wilkinson, who got 21 points, nine rebounds and five assists.
Great as the win over Grimes was, Chittenango could not follow it up when it returned home Wednesday and, facing Syracuse Academy of Science, took a 50-35 loss to the Atoms.
SAS, who moved up to Class B this season after reaching the state Class C title game a season ago, broke out in front in the second quarter, holding the Bears to three points.
That margin kept growing, too, despite Moon’s 13 points and Mekenzie Dahlin’s 10 points and 10 rebounds. Shoemaker had eight points, six rebounds, six assists and four steals as Sarah Lanphear got seven rebounds.
Aniyah Powell led the Atoms with 19 points, helped by Xyel Bradford (10 points), Erykah Pasha (10 rebounds) and Freey Pleasants (10 assists).
Cazenovia hosted Westhill on Tuesday and again had a fine defensive effort, even though the Lakers lost 44-31 to the Warriors.
In particular, Cazenovia could take pride in the way it contained Westhill senior Mackenzie Martin, limiting her to six points as Lindsey Lawson, remembering their battles on the volleyball court, delivered 14 points.
However, Westhill still used timely surges to get away from Cazenovia, with Jenna Larrabee and Imani Watts each getting 15 points to make up for Martin’s struggles. Other than Lawson, Katie Ammann was the Lakers’ main threat, only getting six points.
