CENTRAL NEW YORK – While many other things have gone sideways for the Cazenovia girls basketball team, it still has managed to maintain bragging rights over its neighbors from Chittenango.
Confirmation of this was given last Thursday night, when the Lakers made the short trip to “Bear Country”, got off to a hot start and never got caught on the way to a 54-38 victory.
Combined, the two sides had just five wins going into the game, so whoever could gain an early advantage would find it more pronounced than usual.
Cazenovia did this with a potent attack that produced a 19-9 edge by the end of the first quarter, allowing for it to struggle the rest of the half but still lead Chittenango 25-21 going into halftime.
It remained that tight until the fourth quarter when the Lakers finally put the Bears away, outscoring them 18-4 with another scoring burst led by Ella Baker.
All Baker did was notch 23 points, setting a new season mark, but Chittenango could not concentrate on her because Sophie Rheaume was earning 14 points and Bess Johnson gained nine points.
Though it had no one to match Baker’s output, the Bears, without leading scorer Abby Scheidelman in the lineup, got 15 points from Alivia Cavotta and had all eight players that saw action get at least one field goal.
Prior to this Cazenovia lost, 69-42, to Jordan-Elbridge, while Chittenango fell 70-22 to reigning sectional Class B champion Cortland last Tuesday night.
In the case of the Lakers, it was fairly close until the third quarter, when J-E outscored them 19-6, led by Abbie Ahern, who finished with 25 points, and Ava Hildebrant, who got 19 points. Baker had 17 points, with Rheaume and Jocelyn Szalacheach getting eight points and Johnson earning six points.
To its credit, Chittenango would, a night after falling to Cazenovia, return Scheidelman to the lineup and prevail 38-37 over Syracuse West with a sensational late-game comeback.
Trailing 30-21 going to the fourth quarter, the Bears went on a closing 17-7 spurt to pull it out, with Cavotta getting eight points and nine rebounds to lead a balanced attack. Dominique Brown and Isabelle Damon each had six points and six rebounds, Michele LaTour adding seven rebounds.
