Halfway through its league slate, the West Genesee girls basketball team found itself firmly entrenched in third place in the Salt City Athletic Conference Metro division.
The Wildcats were now chasing both Baldwinsville and Cicero-North Syracuse in the wake of last Tuesday night’s 46-32 defeat to the Northstars.
This was, of course, the first encounter between WG and C-NS since the Wildcats topped the Northstars for the second consecutive year in the 2019 Section III Class AA final.
What C-NS still had was its dominant junior forward, Jessica Cook, but WG mostly contained her in the first half, though it could not take advantage due to its own offensive struggles.
Down 20-11 at halftime, the Wildcats did pick things up in the game’s latter stages, Meredith James earning 10 points as Catie Cunningham and Mollie Coyne each got seven points.
Yet C-NS pulled further away as Cook finished with 19 points, helped by nine points from Alita Carey-Santangelo, eight points from Mackenzie White and six points from Julia Rowe.
Looking to rebound at Nottingham Friday night, WG nearly did so, but was caught late by the Bulldogs and fell by a score of 57-56.
Down 18-13 after one period, the Wildcats stormed in front 28-26 by halftime, and for most of the rest of the game neither side could sustain any margin.
WG lost despite 15 points from Cunningham, 13 points from James and 12 points from Molly Benetti, with Erin Dipaola adding nine points. Nottingham’s Amaya Williams poured in 26 points, nearly half her team’s output.
On the boys side, West Genesee took a 7-3 record into last Tuesday’s game against 1-9 Cicero-North Syracuse, but nearly got upended before escaping with a 64-61 victory.
A close first half gave the Northstars some belief and then, in the third quarter, it outscored the Wildcats 16-9 to take a 44-38 lead, led by Luke Paragon, who would finish with 20 points and eight rebounds.
Not panicking, WG reeled in C-NS during the fourth quarter, went back in front and held tight as Will Amica’s 15 points led a balanced effort.
Adam Dudzinski put in 13 points, with John Benson getting 10 points. Kam Jones contributed nine points as James Tully put in six points.
Two nights later, WG’s game against Nottingham was designated as Coach Joe Adams Night in honor of the former basketball and lacrosse coach at the school who passed away from brain cancer at age 46 in January 2018.
And it proved a close, tense affair that the Wildcats pulled out 50-46 over the Bulldogs to improve to 9-3 overall.
Having handled Nottingham 63-45 when they first met in December, WG had a much more difficult time in the rematch, falling behind 22-20 by halftime.
The Wildcats’ offense roared to life in the third quarter enough to inch in front 36-32, and it held on late with a mix of production from Amica and help from his teammates.
Amica finished with 19 points, while Jones had seven points. Benson, Dudzinski and Tully got six points apiece, all of which was needed since Nottingham’s Mazi Jackson led all scorers with 22 points.
Both of WG’s teams face Liverpool late this week, with the boys game taking place Saturday at Onondaga Community College’s Allyn Hall as part of the Pathfinder Bank Classic.
