Just before the holidays, on Dec. 20, the Cazenovia girls basketball team lost to Chittenango 53-41, which dropped the Lakers’ overall mark to 4-2.

With its two-week break over, Cazenovia was back in action last Friday, at 6-1 Solvay, and used its defense to seize control against the Bearcats and prevail 53-35.

Led again by Lindsey Lawson, the Lakers settled matters early, roaring to a 37-14 lead by halftime, which allowed it to dictate the pace the rest of the way.

Lawson finished with 23 points, seven rebounds, four blocks and four steals. Carleigh Szalach had 10 points, five assists, four rebounds and three steals, with Julia Bauder and Josie Avery earning seven points apiece.

That same night, Chittenango, who was undefeated before a narrow loss to Oneida in the finals of its own holiday tournament, had another big test when it took on undefeated, state Class A no. 22-ranked Christian Brothers Academy at Buddy Wleklinski Court.

And while it had plenty of good moments, the Bears could never fully recover from a rough start in a 65-53 defeat to the Brothers.

In the first of several key runs, CBA had a 10-0 push late in the first quarter. From there, it kept Chittenango at a distance, occasionally letting its lead slip to single digits, but answering each time.

Ally Shoemaker did all she could with 22 points, nine rebounds, seven assists and five blocks, while Sarah Lanphear had 13 points and nine rebounds, Emily Moon adding 12 points and five rebounds.

Yet it was the Brothers’ Brooke Jarvis that proved unstoppable, carrying CBA’s attack in the second half as she netted 20 of her game-high 29 points in those last two periods.

Cazenovia has back-to-back games against Madison and Mexico early this week as Chittenango hosts Bishop Grimes Friday after meeting Jordan-Elbridge on Tuesday, with Shoemaker likely to reach the 1,000-career point mark in either of those games.