It was a familiar narrative in the girls basketball Section III Class B final Friday at the Carrier Dome, with Westhill in pursuit of another championship and South Jefferson standing in the way.
Only this time, it was the Spartans earning the crown, the no. 3 seed Spartans holding off the top-seeded Warriors 54-50 to earn its first sectional title since 2012.
Each of the last two Westhill sectional titles, in 2015 and 2016, were claimed in title games against South Jefferson. And they had met late in December, again with the Warriors prevailing 44-41.
The Spartans learned plenty from that contest, and spent the first half expertly probing Westhill’s defenses, finding open looks -and converting them.
Whether it was junior Taylor Scoville hitting mid-range jumpers, or freshman Jackie Piddock burning the Warriors with a mix of aggressive drives and outside shots, South Jefferson showed vast improvement on the offensive end from that regular-season encounter.
Meanwhile, the Warriors were forced into plenty of early turnovers, and couldn’t find the range when it did get open shots, either from the field or at the foul line. Other than Catherine Dadey, who had nine points, Westhill only had three field goals.
Held without a point for more than five minutes, the Warriors trailed 31-20 at halftime, but cut into that deficit throughout the second half, eventually pulling within one, 47-46, with three minutes left.
Yet several empty possessions down the stretch hurt Westhill, while Stevenson, with a rebound basket, and the sister duo of Abby and Jackie Piddock combined for three free throws that put the game away.
Jackie Piddock, named tournament MVP, finished with 19 points, eight assists and three steals, while Stevenson had 16 points, 16 rebounds and five blocks. Dadey led Westhill with 15 points and Martin added 14 points.
Right after, Bishop Ludden took its turn at the Dome, seeking to add a sectional Class A title to the Class B championships it earned each of the previous two years.
But another dynasty thwarted the Gaelic Knights’ dreams as Jamesville-DeWitt, the reigning three-time state champions, claimed its eighth sectional title in a row by beating Ludden 57-44.
At the outset, the Red Rams’ task centered around trying to contain Ludden forwards Aurora Deshaies and Amarah Streiff while also keeping an eye on the Gaelic Knights’ rotation of guards.
Quickly, a pattern was established. Any time the ball didn’t go inside, J-D made a stop, but when it did get into the paint, Ludden would convert. Streiff and Deshaies scored all 13 of the Gaelic Knights’ points in the first quarter.
And while Deshaies got contained in the second quarter, Streiff, just an eighth-grader, kept converting, both in the paint and with midrange jumpers, and didn’t let up until she had amassed 22 points prior to halftime.
The intense pace – eight lead changes, five ties – was just what Ludden wanted as it led 35-31 at the break, despite 11 points apiece from J-D teammates Gabby Stickle and Momo LaClair.
When the third quarter started, though, Ludden found J-D pressing them, and within 30 seconds the Rams got a layup by LaClair and converted two Gaelic Knights turnovers into consecutive baskets by Stickle, putting them in front for good.
All told, J-D had 10 unanswered points, and even when the Rams called off the press, it continued to stifle Ludden, forcing a string of turnovers and extra possessions.
LaClair had eight points as J-D outscored the Gaelic Knights 20-4 in that quarter. Not only that, LaClair did an effective job silencing Streiff, who only had one field goal after halftime.
Any hopes for a Ludden comeback vanished when the Rams held them without a point for nearly five minutes, including the early part of the fourth quarter.
Other than Streiff and Deshaies, who finished with nine points, the Gaelic Knights had just four total field goals. Stickle, the sectional tournament MVP, had 21 points as LaClair added 19 points.
