CENTRAL NEW YORK – Typically, when one basketball team holds the opposition under 40 points, it will be in good shape.
Yet when the Cazenovia girls basketball team did just this in last Wednesday’s game at Skaneateles, it suffered through a far worse struggle with its own offense in a 39-20 defeat.
Skaneateles did have some confidence from knocking off Class B contender Jordan-Elbridge earlier in the week, and it was also Senior Night, which can cause distractions – or lead to an emotionally charged performance.
It proved the latter for Skaneateles in this Laker duel as it held Cazenovia to just four points in the opening period and two points in the second quarter, establishing a 22-6 margin along the way.
Though it improved in the game’s latter stages, Cazenovia was too far behind, ultimately hitting on just seven field goals, four of them by Ella Baker, who finished with 11 points, more than half her team’s output.
Fittingly, it was a senior, Ayla Pas’cal, leadng the modest Skaneateles attack thanks to her 12 points, while another senior, Bella Pietropaoli, got eight points and Claire Neumann finished with seven points.
Another big challenge came on Friday night when state Class B no. 12-ranked Marcellus came to Buckley Gym and, led again by freshman Tenly Baker, handled Cazenovia 59-21.
Back when these teams first played in December, Baker had made Cazenovia pay for all the attention it gave to star junior Cece Powell, earning 35 points and 11 rebounds in a 76-31 decision.
Here, it wasn’t as pronounced, but Baker’s 23 points still topped the Lakers roster as Powell, who just passed the 1,000-point mark for her career, added 15 points. Baker and Hdyden Bubble each led Cazenovia with seven points.
Chittenango continued to have difficulty keeping up with high-caliber opposition as, in last Thursday’s game against Mexico, it lost a 42-27 decision to the Tigers.
Held to three points in the first quarter, the Bears were in catch-up mode all night, ultimately seeing Abby Scheidelman pick up 12 points, including a trio of 3-pointers.
However, the rest of the roster had just six total field goals, while Mexico had Giana Cutuli earn 14 points, helped by seven points from Caprice Cutuli and six points from Adriana DiManto.
