Things did not exactly go as planned for either the Jamesville-DeWitt or Bishop Grimes girls basketball teams in their various tournament appearances over the Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend.
In J-D’s case, it went to New York City for the Rose Classic Super Jam where, in the Jan. 18 opening round against Bishop Loughlin (no. 13 in the state Class AA rankings), it saw a late lead get away in a 63-59 overtime defeat to the Lions.
Paige Keeler’s 11 first-half points helped the Red Rams build a 30-19 advantage, and it still led 42-37 through three periods. Then Loughlin’s Ariel Jackson took over.
Jackson put up 14 consecutive points for the Lions that helped it tie the game 54-54 and force OT, where again Jackson proved too difficult to handle. Of Jackson’s 33 points, 26 of them came in the second half and beyond.
Keeler still finished with 24 points, followed closely by Momo LaClair, who had 18 points. Andrea Sumida finishedw with 10 points.
Still at no. 12 in the state Class A rankings, J-D returned to league play last Friday and, against the Fulton Red Raiders, rolled again and won 60-29, using a 16-2 push through the third quarter to break it open.
Less than 24 hours later, in another tough battle against Section V power Pittsford Mendon, the Rams again took a close defeat, 47-43, to the Vikings, not quite able to recover from a 28-22 halftime deficit despite LaClair carrying her team with 25 points.
Meanwhile, Bishop Grimes saw its own MLK Tournament schedule curtailed when one of the participating teams, Canton, was unable to make it due to weather.
So the Cobras had just one game last Monday against Binghamton Seton Catholic (Section IV), which turned into a double-overtime epic, Grimes seeing its six-game win streak halted in a 65-62 defeat.
The Cobras jumped out 22-11 on Seton, but then watched Seton make up the ground the rest of regulation and then, after the first OT ended tied, finally get out in front in the second extra period.
Lora Marial had 21 points, mostly from five 3-pointers. Rhonee Shea Pal chimed in with 15 points, while Jenna Sloan had nine points. Naywel Ayeil and Alicia Kelly had six points apiece.
Off until Friday, Grimes, who moved to no. 11 in the latest state Class B rankings despite the loss to Seton, then faced Bishop Ludden, who had lost four of five, all on the road.
But here the Gaelic Knights rose up and beat the Cobras 54-47, and much of that was due to Amarah Streiff, the freshman forward earning 31 points on everything from rebound baskets to a pair of 3-pointers.
Ludden took the lead for good when it went on an 8-0 run late in the second quarter to break a 20-20 tie. With Streiff netting nine points in the third quarter, the Gaelic Knights built a 39-26 advantage.
That cushion was needed, since Grimes would increase its pressure and whittle that deficit to single digits, but get no closer than five in the final seconds of the game. Marial had 14 points, with Sloan adding 12 points.
East Syracuse Minoa earned a tough 47-41 overtime victory over Mexico last Tuesday in a game where the Tigers, who trailed 29-24 through three periods, saw the Spartans go up 34-31 before Mexico hit a long 3-point shot at the end of regulation just to get it to OT at 34-34.
Then Angelina Polcaro took over in the OT period, netting nine of the Spartans’ 13 points in those four minutes and getting 16 points overall. Bella Pickard and Lailani Carrion also made big plays down the stretch.
The Spartans struggled on Friday in a 53-22 defeat to Auburn, its record falling to 6-7.
