Perhaps the days of the Jamesville-DeWitt girls basketball team smoothly gliding past all challengers toward yet another Section III Class A championship are gone.
However, the Red Rams still rule until someone takes them down.
And though J-D’s neighbors from Christian Brothers Academy had a great chance to do so in Sunday night’s sectional semifinal at Onondaga Community College’s Allyn Hall, the Red Rams maintained a remarkable streak when it beat the Brothers 47-37.
Dating back to 2012, the Rams have won 23 consecutive sectional playoff games, a run that commenced when the current players were still in grade school.
Seven sectional and three state championships later, this J-D group got challenged by a CBA side that rose from a no. 10 seed to pull off playoff road wins at Central Square and New Hartford, completing its rise from a 3-8 record in January.
And the Brothers had every intention of knocking off the Rams, too, matching baskets with them throughout the first quarter until Leana Heitmann drained a 3-pointer in the waning seconds to give her side a 13-11 lead.
The pace quickened during the second quarter, with CBA up to it as it matched J-D basket for basket, and the only reason why it didn’t take the lead was the continued hot shooting of the Rams’ Gabby Stickle.
Having hit seven 3-pointers in a 27-point effort against Whitesboro in the quarterfinals, Stickle got 11 points in the second quarter here, including a 3-pointer right before the horn that put J-D in front 28-25 going to the break.
Until now, the Rams’ vaunted defense had yet to really settle in, but in the third quarter it did so, holding CBA to just two field goals that made up for its own struggles to find the basket.
The battle continued until the final minutes, CBA still within three, 38-35, with three minutes left, but then held to just a single basket by Brooke Jarvis the rest of the way.
Stickle and Momo LaClair iced the game by scoring all nine of J-D’s remaining points. Stickle finished with 25 points and LaClair had 13 points as Jarvis had 13 points to pace the Brothers, with Skye Ryan adding eight points and Emily Hall getting seven points.
And this sets up a potentially memorable sectional final Friday night at 6 p.m. at the Carrier Dome. J-D will get challenged by Bishop Ludden, who won the sectional Class B titles in 2017 and 2018 before getting moved up to Class A this winter.
Led by senior 1,000-point scorer Aurora Deshaies, the Gaelic Knights have won 16 in a row, topping Cortland 71-39 in the quarterfinals and Auburn 63-51 in the semifinals.
