Back in January, if anyone had predicted that the Jamesville-DeWitt and Christian Brothers Academy girls basketball teams would end up meeting for a berth in the Section III Class A title game, few would have believed them.
As a reigning seven-time sectional champion, the Red Rams’ presence would surprise no one. But the Brothers were, at one point this season, mired at 3-8, and needed a strong push just to get into the sectional tournament.
But once it got there, CBA, as the no. 10 seed, put together two special performances, first by leaning on its defense to smother no. 7 seed Central Square 39-26 in the Feb. 15 opening round.
Then, at no. 2 seed New Hartford in Tuesday’s sectional quarterfinal, the Brothers contained one of Central New York’s top players, Kaia Henderson, and battled to the wire – where a special shot from sophomore Kaily Campbell produced a 61-59 victory over the Spartans.
Going in, CBA knew it had to key on Henderson, the New Hartford freshman who averaged better than 31 points per game this season and had just set a single-game school record with 47 points in a win over Moravia the week before.
Doing this did not mean containing the Spartans as a whole, though, as New Hartford was able to find other players to produce throughout the night, especially Abby Buchholz, who would finish with 22 points.
Yet Henderson only got 17 points, and because of that CBA hung right with New Hartford, even though it trailed most of the game and was down 47-42 going to the fourth quarter.
As it fought back late, the Brothers again saw Brooke Jarvis stand out, Jarvis getting 22 points as Emily Hall had 14 points and Skye Ryan had eight points.
Yet it was Campbell , averaging just four points per game this season, who found herself with the ball as time wound down and CBA still trailed 59-58. Already, Campbell had made a pair of 3-pointers, and here, with 12 seconds left, she converted again from beyond the arc.
Now down by two, New Hartford had a chance to tie or win. With Henderson again occupied by the Brothers’ defense, it was Kristen Sellars getting open for a winning 3-point attempt from the corner –that rolled off the rim.
And now CBA would get a chance to topple J-D, the no. 3 seed, who had undergone its own stressful sectional quarterfinal against no. 6 seed Whitesboro, but rode Gabby Stickle’s hot hand to turn back the Warriors 55-33.
With several recent playoff defeats to the Red Rams still fresh in its mind, Whitesboro hung right with J-D throughout the first half, only trailing 27-22 at the break.
What proved the key, though, was that as the Rams slumped in the third quarter, the Warriors could not take advantage, only managing five points and giving J-D a chance to work through its cold spell.
Down the stretch, Stickle took over. Her string of outside shots put the game away as Stickle eventually connected on seven 3-pointers and set a career mark with 27 points, nearly matching Whitesboro by herself.
Momo LaClair, with 12 points, helped out, as did Andrea Sumida with seven points as Kelsey Wands, with 17 points, accounted for more than half of the Warriors’ output.
While all this was going on, Fayetteville-Manlius was in the Class AA sectional quarterfinals as the no. 5 seed, attempting to upend no. 4 seed Nottingham, but the Hornets unable to do so in a 60-46 defeat to the Bulldogs.
They had met twice in the regular season, close games that were split, the home side winning each time. Here, Nottingham was at home, but more importantly, it played tremendous defense to take control during the second quarter.
Held to just seven points in that period, the Hornets found itself trailing 27-17 at halftime, turning the second half into a long chase that proved futile because the Bulldogs did a tremendous job spreading around its offense.
Amaya Williams led with 15 points, while Zyohna Glen had 13 points. Jakiya Howard had 12 points and Naviae Williams hit on a trio of 3-pointers to account for all of her nine points.
As Nottingham advanced to face top seed Cicero-North Syracuse in the sectional semifinals, F-M finished an 11-9 season. Four seniors, including Alexis Schneider, graduate, but top scorer Lexie Roe is just a sophomore and is back next winter, as are the likes of Lily Fish and Ava Angello.
