CENTRAL NEW YORK – All season long, the East Syracuse Minoa girls basketball team had produced wildly varying results, even as it went 6-6 through its first 12 games.
But the Spartans got its best win of the season last Tuesday night when, against state Class B no. 25-ranked Skaneateles, it took charge right before halftime and held on to beat the Lakers 41-36.
Neither team started well and ESM trailed, 6-4, but in the second quarter, led by Angelina Polcaro, the Spartans took off, outscoring 19-9.
Here was where Polcaro got a good share of her game-high 16 points, while Aniyah Jones had nine points. Leah Chavoustie and Isabelle Chavoustie had six points apiece.
The Lakers could not put together a sustained answer in the second half, even as Maddy Ramsard and Ayla Pas’cal led with 11 points apiece. No other Skaneateles player had more than two field goals.
Even better for ESM was knocking off its neighbors from Fayetteville-Manlius in a tense 43-40 overtime battle on Saturday afternoon.
Down 12-3 to the Hornets after one period, the Spartans didn’t start eating into the deficit until the third quarter, but did enough late to pull even, 37-37, and get it to the four-minute extra period.
ESM held F-M to three points in that extra period and pulled it out, carried by Jones, who had 23 points, and Polcaro, who earned 13 points, which overcame a 17-point effort by the Hornets’ Lauren Hoffman as Morgan Goodman and Julianna Cogliandro had eight points apiece.
Jamesville-DeWitt, who hosts ESM later this week, met Fulton last Friday and, in its second close battle with the Red Raiders in as many outings, again pulled it out, 34-31.
The Red Rams won 40-39 when they first met Jan. 14, and in the rematch a 14-6 push through the second quarter got J-D in front, only to have Fulton tie it, 27-27, going to the fourth quarter.
Great defense allowed the Rams to reclaim the lead and keep it, most of the offense coming from Ava Sandroni and Aniyah Neal as Sandroni had 14 points and Neal added 11 points.
Though it’s struggled plenty this season, Bishop Grimes keeps on battling, as it did last Thursday when it picked up a 49-44 victory over Syracuse Academy of Science.
The first quarter proved key, with the Cobras gaining a 13-4 edge on the Atoms and then spending the rest of the game answering every single time SAS tried to catch up.
Kierra Baxter led the way with 15 points, seven rebounds and four steals. Aaliyah Zachery continued her fine seventh-grade season with 14 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists and three steals as Olivia Bitz added 12 points and Angelina Delledera had seven points.
Christian Brothers Academy took a 9-5 record into last Friday’s game against “Holy War” rival Bishop Ludden, but never got close in a 63-33 loss to the Gaelic Knights.
Stifling defense helped Ludden build a 48-23 advantage through three quarters as it held CBA’s top scorer, Chianna Williams, to just nine points as Sydney Vaughn and Carmella Fairbanks had seven points apiece.
Nicely balanced, the Gaelic Knights had Amarah Streiff get 19 points and eight rebounds, with Bridget Dunham earning 17 points, nine rebounds and four assists.
F-M broke out of a three-game skid last Tuesday when it pieced piece together a 40-26 victory over Utica Proctor.
Goodman’s pair of 3-pointers led to 12 points overall as the Hornets were able to outscore the Raidersin every single quarter. Lauren Hoffman and Ashley Schneider had eight points apiece, while Lydia Davidson had six points.
But F-M lost 45-27 to Henninger on Friday as Evie Kawa got nine points and Davidson had seven points, but the Black Knights got 14 points from Sanai Lee and 13 points from Kapriece Sigler.
