CENTRAL NEW YORK – Having gone 2-4 prior to the holiday break, the Cazenovia girls basketball team aimed, at the start of 2024, to rise a bit closer to the .500 mark.
With a golden chance to do so in last Tuesday’s game against Homer, the Lakers were strong on the defensive side, yet did not produce enough on the other end in a 36-34 defeat to the Trojans.
A low-scoring first half ended up in a 16-16 tie. As the second half wore on, the pattern remained the same, with plenty of defensive stops and the sense that a single scoring run would make a difference.
Cazenovia was able to keep Homer from such a spurt. But it could not get out in front of the end despite a balanced scoring effort as Ella Baker had 12 points, Hayden Bubble’s nine points came from three 3-pointers and Bess Johnson had eight points.
All but carrying the Trojans along, Elia Spanbauer finished with 23 points and five steals that, helped by Lauren Franco’s eight points and eight rebounds, proved enough.
Against Syracuse Academy of Science 24 hours later, the Lakers again struggled to find consistency on offense, especially at the outset as it lost to the Atoms 49-38.
Most of the game followed the same stingy terms as Homer, Cazenovia making stops but again unable to string together baskets on a consistent basis.
Thus, the Lakers were unable to recover from a first quarter where SAS jumped out 13-3, maintaining that led thanks to 19 points from Shayla Baker and 12 points from Danielle McLean.
Johnson did manage 14 points to lead Cazenovia, six of them from free throws. Sophie Rheaume earned four of her 10 points on the foul line, with Baker adding eight points.
Chittenango saw its struggles continue last Thursday with a 69-25 defeat to Christian Brothers Academy, though that score didn’t reflect how things went early.
The Bears only trailed 20-11 at halftime, but the Brothers went on a 28-2 third-quarter tear, led by Chianna Williams, who got 19 points ahead of Carmella Fairbanks (13 points), Sydney Vaughn (11 points) and Mariecatherine Giamartino (10 points),
No Chittenango player reached double figures, the closest coming from Gabrielle Dawkins, who had eight points. Abby Scheidelman, the team’s leading scorer, was held to four points as Dominique Brown got seven points and Persephone Rohrer earned six points.
