CENTRAL NEW YORK – Nothing about the early-season journey for the Jamesville-DeWitt girls basketball team has proven easy, which might ultimately help the Red Rams achieve something greater.
Coming off a Dec. 16 defeat to Marcellus, the Red Rams took a 2-3 record into its Dec. 18 game at Fayetteville-Manlius, where it struggled for baskets, but still found a way to keep the Hornets from its first win of the season.
The 35-32 decision involved F-M leading through most of the first half, but unable to put together a sustained scoring run to make it bigger as it went to the half clinging to an 18-15 advantage.
Then J-D outscored the Hornets 16-9 in the third quarter. And though it only scored four points in the final period, the Rams also kept F-M quiet and held on. Lindsay Parker, with 12 points, and Ava Sandroni, with 10 points, accounted for most of J-D’s offense. Samantha Wheeler added six points
A night later, East Syracuse Minoa took a 1-4 record into its game at 4-1 Auburn, but led by another sensational performance from Aniyah Jones, the Spartans stunned the Maroons 52-49.
From the outset, Jones’s production kept ESM close and negated the greater balance and depth in Auburn’s attack, and the entire team would step down the stretch.
Trailing 42-36 going to the fourth quarter, the Spartans forced the Maroons into bad shots on defense while, on the other end, Jones and her teammates strung together a 19-7 spurt to win it.
By the time she was done, Jones, thanks to 13 field goals and six successful free throws, had put up 32 points, nearly double the total of 18 from Auburn’s top scorer, Peyton Manieri. This, along with Leah Chavoustie’s 10 points, gave ESM some momentum going into the holiday break.
Christian Brothers Academy returned from a nine-day layoff last Friday and, against New Hartford, had perhaps its best all-around effort of the season while defeating New Hartford 55-44.
Shut down in back-to-back defeats to state-ranked Marcellus and Cortland, the Brothers were nearly perfect against the Spartans on both ends.
First, CBA held New Hartford to four points int the first quarter. Then it went on a 25-12 run that covered the second period and produced a 37-15 halftime margin.
Despite a late Spartans surge, the Brothers easily held on, and didn’t depend as much on Chiana Williams, though she still led CBA with 14 points.
Liana Thomas set a new season mark with 13 points and Sydney Vaughn did the same, earning 11 points. Cara Macaluso finished with eight points and Maricatherine Giamartino had seven points.
F-M, meanwhile, was still in search of its first win of the season when it went to Nottingham on Dec. 22, but that search finally ended as tremendous defense keyed a 36-25 win over the Bulldogs.
The Hornets only had three points in the first quarter – but held Nottingham to that same total, and started to make some baskets in the second as it moved out in front.
In a decisive third quarter, the Bulldogs again had just three points, allowing F-M’s margin to grow. Taylor Novack ultimately got eight points, helped by Lydia Land-Steves’ seven points as Morgan Goodman and Lydia Davidson had six points apiece. Macie Davey added five points.
