BALDWINSVILLE – Excitement was generated again by the Jamesville-DeWitt girls basketball team in 2021-22 when it made a run to the Section III Class A championship game.
And when the Red Rams debuted this season by winning Baldwinsville’s Bill Middleton Tip-Off Tournament, it again suggested that glory was again with this program’s reach.
A modest 13-7 regular season last winter picked up when J-D won three post-season games, peaking with a semifinal upset of 19-2 Auburn, before falling in the finals to Bishop Ludden.
Now that Ludden is up in Class AA, and with the Rams returning the likes of Aniyah Neal, Macy Durkin and Ava Sandroni to its lineup, expectations were already quite high even before it went to B’ville.
And J-D was quite sharp in Friday’s opening round, where it took apart Utica-Notre Dame 68-43.
A high-scoring first quarter saw the Rams go up 21-15. Then it limited the Jugglers to six points in the second period and used a 14-2 run in the third quarter to put the game away.
Neal, with 21 points, led four J-D players in double figures. Sandroni and Sadie Withers both picked up 13 points, with Durkin getting 12 points as Withers converted on a trio of 3-pointers.
In that same opening round, host B’ville faced Christian Brothers Academy, who was now under the direction of new head coach Mike Cariseo, who had led the JV Brothers each of the last three years and replaced the retiring John Niland.
The Brothers lost, 56-46, despite quite a good start where it led 13-9 through one period and was still tied, 23-23, at halftime before the Bees went up for good in the third quarter.
Chianna Williams still had 11 points, with Carmella Fairbanks adding nine points. Sydney Vaughn got seven points as Kyrah Wilbur (19 points) and Carlie Young (15 points) paced B’ville.
So in Saturday’s finals it was J-D against B’ville, and against a Bees side that went to the sectional Class AA finals a season ago, the Rams won 52-45 to take the tournament title.
Trailing most of the first half, J-D went out in front when it outscored B’ville 14-9 in the third quarter, pulling away in the game’s final minutes largely due to Neal and Durkin.
Between them, Neal, with 16 points, and Durkin, with 15 points, accounted for more than half the Rams’ offense. Sandroni got nine points as her team overcame Wilbur’s game-high 19 points.
CBA lost the consolation game 66-49 to Utica-Notre Dame, though Williams still produced 25 points, including four 3-pointers, while Fairbanks had 10 points and Vaughn seven points.
