CENTRAL NEW YORK – Having played a close thriller back on Jan. 2, the Marcellus and Jordan-Elbridge girls basketball teams were set to battle again Friday night – or at least it was supposed to be a battle.
But the state Class B no. 12-ranked Mustangs never let it get competitive, again riding the superb duo of sophomore Cece Powell and freshman Tenly Baker to a 62-33 victory over the Eagles.
The first meeting at J-E saw the Eagles play quite well, yet it ended 54-53 in overtime in Marcellus’ favor largely because of the 41 points put up by Powell.
Any chance of this game repeating that drama lessened in the opening minutes when J-E’s Makayla Penird picked up two early fouls, taking away one of the players best suited to defend both Baker and Powell.
What followed was a 23-4 run that consumed most of the first half, produced a 35-15 advantage at the break and was followed up by a 15-2 spurt to open the second half.
Baker demonstrated her shooting range hitting a trio of early 3-pointers, hit on five of six free throws and finished with 22 points overall, the sixth time this season she’s topped 20 points.
Meanwhile, Powell inspired her teammates to play sound, aggressive defense, forcing J-E into rushed shots well off target and a host of turnovers that often ended with Powell sprinting to the other end for an easy lay-up on her way to 27 points overall.
Other than Ava Hildebrant, who had 15 points, everyone on J-E struggled, with Abbie Ahern the particular target of the Marcellus defense as she was held to a season-low four points.
As a tune-up for J-E last Tuesday night, Marcellus went to Solvay and managed the rare feat of shutting out the Bearcats for the entire first half while building a 39-0 lead.
A single Solvay basket in the third quarter broke the drought, but it ended 61-7, with Powell getting 20 points and Baker adding 17 points as Ella Butler and Janzen Long had six points apiece.
J-E, meanwhile, had a much tougher test against Cazenovia, a game that stayed in single digits until the third quarter, where the Eagles outscored those Lakers 19-6.
Eventually, J-E prevailed 69-42, with Ahern making her way to 25 points and Hildebrant close behind, earning 19 points. Makayla Penird’s 14 points nearly matched the 17 from Cazenovia’s Ella Baker.
Solvay did better on offense a night later against Canastota, yet still took a 46-25 defeat as Annabelle Stewart had seven points and eight rebounds, with Shay’Eanna Turk adding six points.
Ella Congdon and Anabelle Ritchie led Canastota with 14 points apiece. A 56-25 defeat to Phoenix followed on Friday despite Turk’s 12 points and Ciara Togni getting 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Skaneateles, who beat J-E back on Jan. 22, moved above the .500 mark last Thursday night, though it took quite a battle for the Lakers to prevail by a score of 32-24.
One scoring surge was all Skaneateles needed as it jumped out 17-6 by the end of the first quarter, and leaned on its defense after Hannibal limited it to just two points the rest of the half.
Even with its offensive struggles, each of the seven Lakers’ players that saw action got at least one field goal, Allie Michel leading the way with nine points and Claire Neumann adding six points.
