All through the first month of its season, the Bishop Grimes girls basketball team fluctuated between immense promise and profound disappointment, and did not know where it would land next.
But the Cobras were quite happy Sunday when it turned back Fayetteville-Manlius 48-47 in a tense championship game in Group G of the More Than A Game Tournament at SRC Arena.
What made it even more impressive for the Cobras was the way the game started, exactly as the Hornets, who were no. 22 in the state Class AA rankings going into the game, imagined.
Lexie Roe struck for a pair of 3-pointers and, with eight points, pushed F-M to a 10-1 advantage, but Grimes’ Rhonee Shea Pal, guarding Roe, settled down and hit some baskets of her own to cut the margin to 13-7 by the end of the first quarter.
Having withstood that initial surge, the Cobras traded baskets the rest of the half , with the Hornets up 23-18 at the break, led by Roe’s 15 points.
Lora Marial hit six points in the third quarter and Grimes inched closer. Then, with five minutes left, Jenna Sloan’s basket put the Cobras in front for good and ignited a pivotal 9-0 run.
Now F-M tried to rally, but it fell just short. Marial, with 14 points, and Sloan, with 13 points, paced Grimes as Shea Pal got nine points.
Though unable to match her big early totals, Roe still finished with 23 points, helped by 14 points from Lily Fish and six points from Ava Angello.
The whole weekend was a major triumph for Grimes, starting on Saturday when it turned back Indian River 57-40, paying back for a narrow 49-48 defeat to the Warriors three weeks earlier.
The Cobras jumped out 17-6 on IR by the end of the first quarter and continued to assert itself, eventually building a 49-26 lead through three quarters.
And just like it would against F-M, the whole team contributed. Shea Pal led with 17 points and seven rebounds, with Marial earning 13 points and six rebounds. Sloan had 12 points, six assists and four rebounds as McKenna Squier stepped up with seven points.
This had followed F-M’s 66-47 victory over Ithaca in the other half of the opening round, with the Hornets using a 19-9 push through the second quarter to take control against the Little Red.
No one on Ithaca could contain Roe, who hit four 3-pointers and nine free throws on her way to 33 points overall, half of F-M’s output. Fish got 11 points, with Angello and Halle Daino getting nine points apiece.
Amid this weekend of activity, Christian Brothers Academy moved to 6-0 on the season on Dec. 28 when, returning from an 11-day hiatus, it faced Corcoran and nearly doubled the Cougars’ output in a 74-38 victory.
Leana Heitmann would lead with 23 points, but Corcoran couldn’t concentrate on her since Brooke Jarvis was putting in 16 points and Emily Hall was adding 15 points. Kaily Campbell finished with seven points.
