A change at the top of the Section III Class A girls basketball ranks has finally happened, courtesy of Christian Brothers Academy.
It was the Brothers that put an end to Jamesville-DeWitt’s eight-year championship reign, prevailing 45-42 over the Red Rams in Saturday’s sectional final at Onondaga Community College’s Allyn Hall.
Trailing most of the game, CBA didn’t take the lead for good until late in the fourth quarter, then shut out J-D down the stretch with the kind of defense that had served the Rams so well for so long.
“It feels really good,” said senior guard Emily Hall, who led the Brothers with 17 points.
Fellow senior Brooke Jarvis, CBA’s all-time leading scorer who had six of her 10 points in the final period, echoed those sentiments, but it was special for her for another reason.
“It’s huge, to beat J-D and to do it on my birthday, it was a perfect day,” said Jarvis.
For nearly a decade, no one in the Section III Class A ranks had really come close to J-D once its championship run got going.
Then, in 2019, CBA pushed the Rams to the wire in the semifinal round and, while it didn’t win, the confidence gained that effort carried over into this winter.
And after lopsided playoff wins over Indian River and Whitesboro, the Brothers had to like its chances against a J-D side that had to go to the wire to make it past Bishop Ludden and New Hartford.
What gave Rams partisans its best hope was the vast big-game experience its core of players had gone through, but a team that already missed Gabby Stickle faced more adversity against CBA when Momo LaClair fell on her left ankle late in the first quarter.
Helped off the court, LaClair did briefly return into the game in the closing minutes, but her absence forced J-D to adjust its lineup – which it nearly pulled off.
Paced by Paige Keeler, who would get a game-high 18 points, J-D led most of the way, its defense rarely letting CBA get open looks outside the way it did when it hit nine 3-pointers in the semifinal against Whitesboro.
Late in the third quarter, the Brothers trailed 32-26, yet used seven consecutive points, sparked by an Emily Ball 3-pointer, to go back in front early in the final period.
That homestretch would feature nine lead changes, the tension building with each possession. With 2:43 left, a Sydney Baker 3-pointer pushed J-D back in front 42-40, but it would not score again.
Leanna Heitman’s layup tied it, a Jarvis free throw inched CBA in front for good and, with a minute to play, Hall converted again on a driving layup.
But it was nervous to the end for the Brothers, who saw Hall and Maura Clare Conan both miss free throws before the defense clinched it by forcing Keeler to travel in the final seconds.
Now heading into the state tournament for the first time since 2007, CBA will host the Section II/X champions next Saturday at 7:30 at SRC Arena, a berth in the March 21-22 state final four in Troy on the line.
