The sting of a narrow Jan. 26 defeat at Pittsford Mendon gave the Jamesville-DeWitt girls basketball team a jolt, even though, as it turned out, Mendon and J-D would occupy the top two spots in the ensuing state Class A rankings.
East Syracuse Minoa arrived at J-D last Tuesday night and got outscored 23-4 in the first quarter, only to have the Red Rams make it more lopsided with a 27-0 third-quarter shutout.
It ended 83-24 in J-D’s favor, with all 13 of the Rams’ players able to record a field goal by night’s end and only Gabby Stickle, with 14 points, getting to double figures.
Riley LaTray had nine points, as did Kailey McKenna, with Paige Keeler adding eight points. Lily Loewenguth had seven points as Sydney Baker, Hannah Brooks and Evelyn Kessler had six points apiece. Angelina Thomason led ESM with nine points.
It figured to get a lot tougher for J-D Thursday night when it hosted South Jefferson, an annual Class B contender. But a winter snowstorm and cold temperatures pushed that game back to Monday night, the start of the last full week of the regular season.
But J-D did play against New Hartford power Bishop Guertin on Saturday and took a 59-46 defeat, outscored 15-5 in a pivotal second quarter. LaClair had 15 points, with Keeler and Stickle each earning nine points, Baker seven points and Andrea Sumida six points.
Fayetteville-Manlius, stung by a lopsided defeat to West Genesee on Jan. 25, rebounded against Henninger last Tuesday night, completing a regular-season sweep of the Black Knights as it prevailed 43-35.
Even with a 12-5 lead through one period, the Hornets had difficulty putting Henninger away, not doing so until the final minute. Lexie Roe, with 20 points, had nearly half of F-M’s production as Lily Fish added 11 points.
Friday’s game against Liverpool was crucial to both teams in terms of eventual playoff seeding. Having lost 43-40 to the Warriors on Jan. 4, the Hornets managed to get even in another close battle, earning a 54-48 victory.
F-M’s defense was superb in the first half, making several key stops as, on the other end, the Hornets steadily worked its way to a 29-17 advantage.
And even when Liverpool tried to rally, F-M answered it, Roe getting 24 points and Fish picking up six of her 12 points at the free-throw line. Roe had twice the total of the Warriors’ Amanda Barnell, who led her side with 12 points.
Going head-to-head Friday night, Christian Brothers Academy took on Bishop Grimes, and it was a tight contest most of the way, but led again by Brooke Jarvis, the Brothers seized control late and beat the Cobras 65-49.
Having seen its Jan. 30 game with Auburn postponed, CBA set out to avenge a 46-41 loss to Grimes on Jan. 11. The Brothers did so by answering everything the likes of Abby Wilkinson (22 points) and Naywell Ayeil (12 points) threw at them.
Only up 43-38 with one quarter left, CBA deftly handled the homestretch, doubling Grimes’ total 22-11 the rest of the way as Jarvis constantly went to the foul line and converted.
Of the 30 points Jarvis put up, 14 of them were successful free throws. Maura Claire Conan chimed in with 11 points as Emily Hall had nine points and Victoria Hall got seven points.
Before this, Grimes took a 51-50 defeat to Marcellus, not quite able to overcome a 42-35 deficit heading into the fourth quarter despite Wilkinson hitting five 3-pointers on her way to 25 points overall. Naywell Ayeil added 10 points.
ESM faced Oswego Friday and lost, 47-26, to the Buccaneers. Julianna Barton, with 11 points, and Raychel Underwood, with eight points, handled most of the Spartans’ production as the Bucs got 23 points from Cailtin Lilly and 16 points from Sarah Casaletta.
