Never before had so many teams qualified for the girls basketball Section III Class B playoffs – 23 in all. Now the trick, for the likes of Cazenovia and Chittenango, was to try and make it through the early rounds.

The Lakers had the better short-term situation, holding the no. 9 seed, so it didn’t have to play in Thursday’s opening round, instead skipping ahead to the second round and a trip north to face no. 8 seed Lowville.

Yet even this could not keep Cazenovia from falling victim to a slow start that it would spend the rest of the night trying to recover from, not quite able to pull it off as the Red Raiders prevailed 58-51.

Whether it was the long road trip or the hard work done by a tough Lowville defense, the Lakers were cold from the field throughout the first half.

Meanwhile, Red Raiders guard Sara Wood put her team in charge with four 3-pointers, one that came at the end of the first quarter, and helped her side take a 25-14 lead to the break.

Then it was Sydney Brown’s turn to boost Lowville with outside shots in the third quarter, and she beat the buzzer with one of them that left Cazenovia trailing 44-28 with one period left.

One more time, senior Lindsey Lawson tried to bring her team back. The Harvard-bound forward led a late charge as she worked her total to 32 points, with Carleigh Szalach adding nine points and Julia Bauder getting seven points.

Lowville held on by having four players score in double figures. Sara Wood led with 17 points and Anna Wood had 12 points, with Brown getting 10 points and Emma Dening earning 11 points.

Chittenango, holding the no. 12 seed, did have to play on Thursday in the opening round against no. 21 seed Canastota, and had little trouble topping the Raiders 80-27.

After a relatively close first quarter, the Bears went on a 40-10 run over the course of the second and third periods, ultimately getting five players to score in double figures.

Ally Shoemaker led with 14 points, but Cassidy Kelly and Emily Moon were right behind her, each getting 13 points as Avree Salce produced 11 points, a number that Sarah Lanphear matched.

This led to a second-round match Saturday between Chittenango and no. 5 seed Vernon-Verona-Sherrill, and despite a ferocious late comeback, the Bears’ season ended with a 55-51 defeat to the Red Devils.

A whistle-plagued first half included Kelly and Moon both picking up three fouls. VVS had those issues, too (Morgan Brewer picked up four fouls), but still handled the situation better and Chittenango trailed 30-19 at halftime.

Things hadn’t changed much until early in the fourth quarter when the Bears, down 42-33, picked up pressure and rattled off 10 unanswered points, Mekenzie Dahlin’s basket and free throw inching Chittenango in front 43-42.

It went back and forth from there, Mia McReynolds hitting a pair of late 3-pointers that kept the Bears tied, 51-51, but VVS regained the lead with a pair of free throws.

Then, trailing 53-51 and with a chance to tie or win it, Chittenango saw VVS’s Anna Rossi make a steal, get fouled and hit the clinching free throws with 2.9 seconds left. Brewer, despite her foul trouble, led the Red Devils with 16 points.

Before all this, Cazenovia closed its regular season last Tuesday by defeating Port Byron 46-29, an impressive effort, given that the Panthers were 13-6 going into the game.

Up 12-4 through one period, the Lakers surrendered that edge as Port Byron seized an 18-16 halftime lead, but Cazenovia’s defense controlled matters in the second half, rarely letting the Panthers get an open shot.

Lawson produced 27 points, helped by Szalach, who had 12 points. Together, they were responsible for 15 of the Lakers’ 17 field goals.