CENTRAL NEW YORK – Just a few short years ago, the Jamesville-DeWitt girls basketball team saw its reign as Section III Class A champions end at the expense of Christian Brothers Academy.
This, along with Sydney Vaughn’s half-court shot that allowed the Brothers to beat the Red Rams early in January, was the backdrop as both sides entered Friday’s sectional semifinals as upstarts trying to knock off the top two seeds.
CBA challenged no. 2 seed Central Square and rallied from a double-digit deficit to get a third-quarter lead, only to have the Redhawks regain control and keep it on the way to prevailing 56-44.
Then, when J-D went up against top seed Indian River, it chased the game most of the way and ultimately wore down in a 59-42 defeat to the Warriors.
Each game featured a third-quarter push that nearly turned around the narrative.
Trailing Central Square 34-26 at halftime, CBA went on an 11-2 run that, capped by Sydney Vaughn’s 3-pointer, produced a 37-36 advantage late in the third quarter.
But the Redhawks countered with a decisive 12-0 run that lasted deep into the final period, the Brothers held without a field goal for more than five minutes and unable to recover.
Four Central Square players scored in double figures, led by Samantha Haley, who had 18 points. And the Redhawks’ defense contained CBA’s top scorer, Chianna Williams, most of the way, holding her to nine points, matching Vaughn for the team lead as Liana Thomas got seven points and Carmella Fairbanks six points.
Then it was J-D’s turn against an Indian River side that was 19-2 and no. 8 in the state Class A rankings.
Right from the outset, the Warriors’ size gave it an advantage on the board and its relentless defensive pressure caused fits. The Rams fell into a 32-19 deficit early in the third period.
Then, like CBA, J-D battled back, going on a 9-0 run, six of the points from Aniyah Neal, but when IR with a 9-1 spurt of its own late in the third quarter, it gained control for good, the Rams never getting closer than nine points again.
Neal finished with 13 points, Macy Durkin adding 11 points as Ava Sandroni and Merris Kessler had eight points. For the Warriors, Bella Davis led the way with 20 points. J-D’s season ended with a 13-9 record as CBA went 12-10.
They both got there with impressive wins in Tuesday’s quarterfinals, J-D by upending its neighbors from East Syracuse Minoa 47-31 and CBA going to New Hartford and routing those other Spartans 61-34.
The margin of J-D’s win was surprising given that the Red Rams and Spartans split two close regular-season meetings by a combined margin of seven points.
And they were tight early here, too, but in the second quarter J-D clamped down on defense and outscored ESM 12-5 to seize control, then weathered its own drought in the third quarter before pulling away in the final minutes.
Neal led with 10 points, Lindsay Parker stepping up to get nine points, Durkin adding eight points and Sandroni Merris Kessler seven points apiece.
ESM, meanwhile, had the game’s leading scorer as Aniyah Jones got 13 points. But only Isabelle Chavoustie (seven points) and Angelina Polcaro (six points) helped much as the Spartans concluded its season at 11-10.
Meanwhile, CBA was outclassing no. 3 seed New Hartford just as it did when it beat them 60-36 two weeks earlier, bolting to a 16-4 advantage by the end of the first quarter and not letting up from there.
Vaughn had one of her best games of the season, pouring in 14 points. Williams led with 19 points, while Amelia Bonacci put in 10 points.
While all this was going on, Fayetteville-Manlius was seeing its season end in the Class AA sectional quarterfinals, the no. 9 seed Hornets falling to top seed Auburn 57-38.
The Maroons had played Class A sides for most of the regular season, building an 18-2 record, but still had an unstoppable force in Le Moyne College-bound senior Leah Middleton, who again dazzled against F-M.
However, the story in the first half was the way Auburn’s defense stifled the Hornets, constantly getting stops leading to baskets as the margin grew to 32-11 by halftime.
Led by Julianna Cogliandro (12 points), Evie Kawa (eight points) and Madison Kirkpatrick (six points), F-M did play better in the last two quarters and made up some ground, but it proved too late.
