Just as winter snows forced schedule changes and the coldest temperatures of the season hit, the Baldwinsville girls basketball team left, found warm temperatures in Florida – and kept on winning.
The Bees, off to a 4-0 start and perched at no. 15 in the first state Class AA rankings of the winter, were supposed to take on Fayetteville-Manlius on Dec. 17, but it got postponed.
A day later, B’ville’s players, coaches and chaperones made it to Orlando, where inside that city’s sprawling convention center it would take part in the KSA Tournament.
In last Thursday’s opening round, it was B’ville against University High School from Orange City, Florida, and showing no effects from the travel, it beat the Titans 61-41.
With a 20-7 push through the second quarter, the Bees broke the game open, maintaining a double-digit margin the rest of the way.
All nine players that saw action got on the scoreboard, led by Katie Pascale and Jordan Roy, who had 13 points apiece. Gianna Perine earned nine points, with Alexandra Bednarczyk getting seven points and Mattison Phinney earning six points.
Next, B’ville faced David Douglas High School, from near Portland, Oregon. Against the Scots, the Bees would get its most difficult challenge of the tournament, but still battle its way to a 50-41 victory.
A low-scoring first half ended 15-15, but B’ville maintained its patience and then,in the third quarter, made the decisive move, outscoring Douglas 19-9.
Lots of free throws followed, and Pascale would convert 12 of her 20 points at the foul line. Bednarczyk finished with 10 points as Hannah Mimas had eight points and Roy earned six points.
It concluded on Saturday with the Bees against Ocean View, from California. The Seahawks would prove no match for B’ville as, with its best performance of the tournament, it rolled to a 63-23 victory.
An 18-6 start was quite good, but the Bees didn’t let up, ultimately putting Ocean View in a second half where it limited the Seahawks to just four points.
Best of all was the scoring balance as Pascale got 13 points, with Bednarczyk adding nine points. Mimas finished with eight points as Kyrah Wilbur and Sydney Huhtala got six points apiece.
All of this put the Bees at 7-0 going into next Monday’s game against Utica Proctor, which will get followed Jan. 2 by the makeup of the F-M game at 1:30.
