CENTRAL NEW YORK – A new winter sports season is underway and varsity teams from Cazenovia got off to terrific starts on the last day of November.
In girls basketball, the Lakers were close to flawless on defense in last Tuesday’s game against Madison, keeping the Blue Devils in single digits on the way to a 67-7 victory.
Two nights later, Cazenovia kept it up against Tully, and while not quite as stingy, it still put together a lopsided victory as it bashed the Black Knights 64-21.
Four Lakers scored in double figures, led by Carleigh Szalach, who poured in 20 points, nearly matching Tully all by herself.
Ella Baker chimed in with 14 points, while Hadley Schug put in 11 points and Katie Rajkowski earned 10 points. It figured to get tougher this week, when the Lakers faced Clinton and Mexico.
Contrasting this was the Cazenovia boys basketball team’s struggles in its season opener against Oswego that same night.
Those Lakers lost, 63-46, to the Buccaneers, who jumped out 20-8 in the first quarter and never let Cazenovia get too close again despite 14 points from Tom Insel, 12 points from Ben Bianco and nine points from Tanner Ackerman. For Oswego, Nate Devinney hit six 3-pointers on his way to 26 points as Zach Chamberlain added 21 points.
Rebounding on Saturday, Cazenovia defeated PSLA-Fowler 56-44, the win almost entirely based on the 24-4 run it made on the Falcons in the first quarter.
Hanging on from there, the Lakers had Jack Byrnes lead the way with 14 points, Insel adding 13 points and Bianco earning 11 points. McCole finished with seven points.
Cazenovia’s ice hockey team, a combined group with Hamilton and Morrisville-Eaton that has home games at the Morrisville State IcePlex, began with a trip north that resulted in a 5-1 victory over Watertown IHC.
The two sides were tied, 1-1, when the Lakers took charge thanks to a second period where it put up three unanswered goals, the attack centered around the duo of Jacob Owens and Forrest Ives.
Owens finished the night with one goal and three assists, while Ives got a goal and two assists. In all, five different Cazenovia players found the net as the other goals went to Jack Donlin, Will Penoyer and Andrew Murray.
Donlin and Penoyer also picked up assists as Cy McCrink, in goal, turned back 16 of IHC’s 17 shots and earned a shutout over the course of the last two periods.
It was the first of four straight road games for the Lakers, who would have to travel to West Genesee, New Hartford and Fulton before its home opener Dec. 14 against Cicero-North Syracuse.
Two teams from Chittenango debuted last Thursday night, with varying results.
The girls basketball Bears prevailed 35-22 over Cortland, leaning heavily on Mia McReynolds, whose 16 points accounted for nearly half her team’s output as McReynolds hit on four 3-pointers.
In girls volleyball, a clash of two powerful teams saw Chittenango stay close to Tully, but still drop a 25-21, 25-17, 25-23 decision to the Black Knights, who got 12 kills from Emma Byrne and 22 assists from Alexa Shay.
