All through the week prior to the school holiday break, the Fayetteville-Manlius girls basketball team was eager to show itself as a prime Section III Class AA title contender.
One opportunity to do so was taken away when the Hornets’ Dec. 17 game against unbeaten, state no. 15-ranked Baldwinsville was postponed by winter weather, to get made up on Jan. 2 at 1:30.
Denied that opportunity, F-M was quite ready when Liverpool paid a visit last Thursday night, and led by Lexie Roe and Lily Fish, the Hornets defeated the Warriors 53-43.
Liverpool had knocked off reigning three-time sectional champion West Genesee earlier that week, but that only seemed to motivate F-M as it went out and grabbed a 15-5 lead by the end of the first quarter.
All through the rest of the game, the Hornets withstood each of the Warriors’ attempts to catch up, largely thanks to Roe, who poured in 26 points, including a trio of 3-pointers.
Enough help came from Fish, who earned 12 points, as Liverpool still had strong outings from Victoria Morgan, who had 18 points, and Neveah Wingate, who had 11 points.
That same night, East Syracuse Minoa lost 47-33 to Auburn, with much of the margin established when the Maroons outscored the Spartans 19-9 in the third quarter.
In games on Friday night, Jamesville-DeWitt handled Fulton 75-53, with the biggest story the fact that its offense really started to produce on a consistent basis.
Building a 44-27 lead by halftime, the Red Rams maintained that pace as Momo Laclair finished with 16 points, while Kailey McKenna and Lily Loewenguth got eight points apiece.
As for Bishop Grimes, it met Syracuse Academy of Science that night and saw everything get away from them early in the second half of a 56-37 defeat to the Atoms.
SAS already led 18-13 at the end of a low-scoring first half, but then took full advantage of all the Cobras’ mistakes as it outscored them 24-6 in the third quarter.
Rosalie Vincent had eight points to lead Grimes as Rhonee Shea Pal had seven points and Naywel Ayeil had six points. For the Atoms, Alexius Pierce had 22 points and 10 rebounds as Xy’el Bradford had 19 points, eight rebounds and four steals.
Two days later, Grimes lost, 53-30, to Academy of Holy Names, from Albany. Ayeil got 12 points and Shea Pal had nine points, but the rest of the Cobras were held to just three total field goals.
