When the Baldwinsville girls basketball team leaves for the Washington, D.C. area for a three-day tournament right after Christmas, it does so with more than the usual amount of gratefulness for holiday blessings.

And it has nothing to do with basketball.

The Bees are celebrating the recovery of junior guard Katie Pascale in the wake of a frightening incident that took place in the Bees’ Tuesday-night game at Nottingham.

B’ville led 21-19 in the second quarter when Pascale went up to block a shot by a Nottingham player, only to fall to the court and hit her head.

Immediately, it was apparent that Pascale’s injury was more than just a cut to the head. A parent of one of the B’ville players went down to the court and performed CPR, and then an emergency crew arrived.

At one point, according to Tony Pascale, Katie’s father, she lost consciousness and a defibrillator was used to get her heart going before she was taken to nearby Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital.

The game was suspended, to be resumed at a later date, as everyone waited for further word about Pascale. EKG and CT scans were done, and they checked out well, allowing Pascale to begin her recovery.

A three-sport standout, Pascale was part of B’ville’s 2017 state Class AA championship girls soccer team and also plays lacrosse, where she is verbally committed to attend the University at Albany