CENTRAL NEW YORK – Game after game, the Fayetteville-Manlius girls basketball team shows that it has the skill, talent and work ethic to match up with any top Section III Class AA championship contender.
All that is missing is a victory to reward those efforts.
Close defeats to Baldwinsville and Cicero-North Syracuse were followed by last Friday’s visit to Liverpool where, again, F-M had a great chance to win and, again, could not quite pull it off, falling 43-40 in overtime to the Warriors.
Led by Gianna Washington, who had most of her 15 points in the second quarter, the Warriors were up 20-16 at halftime before the Hornets went on a 15-8 run in the third period to move in front, paced by Ava Angello, who matched Washington’s total of 15 points.
However, F-M was held to six points in the fourth quarter, though with the score 37-37 the Hornets were spared defeat in regulation when a possible winning shot by Liverpool went off the rim as time expired.
During the four-minute OT, F-M only got three points. The Warriors weren’t much better, but with the score 41-40, Julia Wike’s two free throws with 6.1 seconds left and an off-target Hornets 3-pointer, ended the game.
Lauren Hoffman got seven points, with Lauren Clark adding six points as Evie Kawa and Ashley Schneider got five points apiece. For the Warriors, Naveah Wingate finished with 11 points and Kaylyn Sweeney added nine points.
Intent on getting off to a strong start in 2022, Jamesville-DeWitt instead found itself sidelined.
The Red Rams’ game last Tuesday against Cortland was postponed due to COVID-19 issues, as was a game scheduled for this Friday at Oswego.
J-D did not play again until Saturday, when it traveled to Rome Free Academy and found out in a hurry why the Black Knights are considered sectional Class AA title contenders.
RFA humbled the Rams 75-39 in a game defined by Amya McLeod, the Black Knights star who outscored J-D all by herself by notching 40 points with 12 field goals, five of them 3-pointers, plus 11 successful free throws.
McLeod dominated the second half after J-D had moved within range, 22-17, before intermission. Victoria Payne finished with 13 points to pace the Rams as Ava Sindroni and Aniyah Neal had eight points apiece.
Meanwhile, East Syracuse Minoa met Fulton last Tuesday and lost, 55-15, to the Red Raiders, and similar struggles awaited Christian Brothers Academy two nights later in a 61-33 defeat to Auburn.
Steadily, the Maroons built a 51-20 margin through the game’s first three quarters, paced by Leah Middleton, who had 18 points. Again, much of the Brothers’ attack centered around Chianna Williams, who put in 19 points as Sydney Vaughn contributed seven points.
