Two area girls basketball stars reached a special marker on the same Friday evening as West Genesee’s Madison Smith and Bishop Ludden’s Aurora Deshaies both made it past the 1,000-point career mark.
Smith reached that plateau as the Wildcats defeated Henninger 74-36. Fittingly, the 1,000th point involved Madison Smith taking a pass from her sister, Mackenzie, who herself has nearly 900 career points, and hitting on a driving layup early in the third quarer.
As for the game, WG settled that point by outscoring Henninger 23-4 in the second quarter. Madison Smith finished with 21 points as Mackenzie Smith got 15 points, with Kaitlyn Walker (10 points) and Catie Cunningham (nine points) close behind.
Meanwhile, Bishop Ludden was at Homer, where its 65-50 victory included Deshaies also reaching the 1,000-point mark late in the second quarter on an inside basket, her specialty. Deshaies finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds as the Gaelic Knights won its fifth game in a row.
Before all this, West Genesee hosted Corcoran last Tuesday and only led by one through one quarter. Then WG went on a 43-5 tear through the second and third quarters on the way to bashing the Cougars 66-29.
Madison Smith hit five 3-pointers on her way to 17 points overall. Mackenzie Smith chimed in with 14 points as Walker got 12 points and Cunningham earned seven points.
Not far away, Ludden continued its mid-season surge with an impressive effort at home against Syracuse Academy of Science, the Gaelic Knights earning a 62-56 victory over the Atoms.
The key to the win was Ludden outscoring SAS 16-2 in a decisive second quarter. That created a 34-19 halftime lead which the Gaelic Knights nursed the rest of the way.
Far more important was the inside-outside balance Ludden struck, with Lauren Petrie getting 17 points to match Deshaies and Karleigh Leo earning 12 points, mostly through three 3-pointers, as Amarah Streiff added nine points and Katie Costello seven points.
It was even more lopsided with Westhill putting away Jordan-Elbridge 87-19 last Tuesday night, the Warriors outscoring the Eagles 24-2 in the first quarter and 26-2 in the third period.
Amid all this, Imani Watts set a career mark with 22 points, outscoring J-E by herself as Mackenzie Martin got 15 points. Catherine Dadey hit three 3-pointers while matching Jenna Larrabee’s total of 13 points.
Marcellus also had a relatively easy time of it that night against Phoenix, shutting down the Firebirds 68-20 as the Mustangs didn’t allow more than seven points in any single quarter.
Katie MacLachlan led the way with 16 points, with Hannah Durand getting 12 points and Sarah Fallon adding 11 points. Emma MacLachlan, with nine points, was just ahead of Shannon Kellar (eight points) and Mei LaMarre (six points).
Back at the start of the week, Solvay hosted Hannibal and played the Warriors on even terms most of the way, except for a second quarter that proved decisive in a 51-34 defeat.
During that second period, Hannibal outscored the Bearcats 24-10, building upon a lead it already owned. For Solvay, Haley Muehl had 12 points and eight rebounds, with Carly Devereaux adding 10 points as Brielle Bagozzi had nine rebounds.
Marcellus and Westhill both played on Saturday and won big, the Mustangs stopping General Brown 58-32 and the Warriors routing Altmar-Parish-Williamstown 89-13.
A 15-6 second-quarter push helped Marcellus take charge against General Brown, and it closed 19-4 as Fallon gained 17 points, with Kellar adding 10 points. Kade DeMarle got eight points, while Durand and Katie MacLachlan had six points apiece.
Westhill’s romp of APW included 21 points from Larrabee and 16 points from Watts, with Martin getting 14 points as Jada Doss had a career-best 10 points. Dadey and Erica Gangemi had eight points apiece.
Back on Friday, J-E beat Mexico 43-33, pulling it out by outscoring the Tigers 14-7 in the fourth quarter as Ashlee Eaton poured in 16 points, while Megan Bard had eight points and Jenna Melchior got six points.
