SYRACUSE – Regardless of what it thinks and what others may perceive, the Jamesville-DeWitt girls basketball program unaccustomed to the underdog role, having dominated area Class A basketball for the last decade capped by a trio of state championships from 2016 to 2018.
Yet here were the Red Rams, a clear second choice, as it opposed Bishop Ludden last Saturday at SRC Arena, determined to reclaim the sectional title with a run far more unlikely than those in the recent past.
J-D had already knocked off no. 4 seed Fulton on the road when it took aim at Auburn in last Monday’s semifinal at SRC Arena, whom it had pushed to overtime the last time they had met Feb. 11.
That game, though it ended with a 58-54 less, gave J-D the belief that it could contain the Maroons’ transition game if they played again – and leaning on 3-point shots, the Rams were able to knock off the Maroons 47-37.
What neither team expected,was the way the game started. Red-hot from the perimeter, the Rams jumped in front 11-0 and, in the long run, that start was decisive, since for the rest of the game Auburn would find itself in catch-up mode.
Early in the second period, the Maroons moved within three, 15-12, and were still quite close as it went to halftime 21-14, but the start of the third quarter echoed what happened in the opening period.
Consecutive 3-pointers from Bella Sindoni, Macy Durkin and Aniyah Neal made it 30-14, and with this even bigger cushion J-D could afford some complacency as Auburn, once again, tried to rally.
By the final period, the lead was just six, 36-30, but again perimeter shooting arrived just in time. Sindoni hit on back-to-back 3-pointers and the Rams were never seriously threatened again.
Setting a new career mark, Sindoni had 15 points, all from five 3-pointers. Half of Neal’s team-high 18 points came from converting three times beyond the arc as Durkin matched Neal’s outside production for her entire total of nine points.
Defensively, J-D honed in on Auburn’s star forward, Leah Middleton, and mostly contained her, Middleton only earning 12 points as Peyton Maneri led the Maroons with 13 points.
What the Rams hoped for was that, as it faced Bishop Ludden, all the things that worked against Auburn would emerge again to thwart the Gaelic Knights’ title hopes.
Instead, it was J-D that got stopped, Ludden putting on a comprehensive display in all phases of the game and never letting the Rams get on track in a 68-36 decision.
It didn’t take long for the Gaelic Knights to overwhelm J-D, unleashing all-out pressure that rarely let the Rams get the ball past midcourt as, on the other end, Ludden kept converting.
J-D trailed 17-2 by the four-minute mark. Even when Rams head coach Keith Cieplicki used three time-outs to try and settle things down, the Gaelic Knights kept coming, a Bridget Dunham 3-pointer at the horn making it 26-8 at the end of the first quarter.
With the Rams concentrating on Kaitlyn Kibling (who scored 41 points in Ludden’s semifinal win over Indian River), Amarah Streiff flourished, getting 24 points, five rebounds and six steals.
Trailing 42-17 at halftime, J-D saw Ludden start the third quarter with a 13-0 run. In defeat, Neal led the Rams with 11 points, while Victoria Payne had eight points.
