CENTRAL NEW YORK – Two girls basketball programs that went through unplanned mid-season coaching changes still had a chance, in the Section III playoffs, to make it all worth the stress and upheaval.
In Class A, it was Jamesville-DeWitt holding the no. 6 seed and, in Friday night’s quarterfinal round, challenging no. 3 seed Oneida – and getting perhaps its best performance of the season, handling the Express and earning a 57-41 victory.
On the surface, all looked in Oneida’s favor. The Express was 16-3, no. 16 in the state Class A rankings and a ferocious defensive side that only allowed more than 57 points once this entire season, to Class B power Utica Notre Dame.
Right from the outset, though, J-D was effective, hitting on outside shots and sprinting to a 15-5 advantage that it would protect throughout the game’s middle stages, Oneida unable to make up any serious ground.
Then the Rams put it away, having seen Sadie Withers hit five of her team’s seven 3-pointers and gain 19 points overall, by far her best total of the season, helped by Merris Kessler and Ava Sandroni each getting 12 points as Samantha Wheeler and Savannah Schnorr had six points apiece.
J-D got started in the sectional touranment with a fine all-around performance in Tuesday’s opening round, where it shut down no. 11 seed Homer for long stretches and prevailed 58-20 over the Trojans.
Strong on defense all season, the Rams limited Homer to just four points in each of the first two quarters while it established a big margin.
Sandroni, with 11 points, led a deep, well-balanced attack where 10 different players earned at least one field goal. Withers had nine points, with Wheeler and Lindsay Parker each getting eight points and Amarachi Okereke stepping up to earn seven points.
The win over Oneida sets up J-D for a tough sectional semifinal against no. 2 seed Cortland Tuesday at Phoenix, the winner to meet Indian River or Westhill in Friday’s final at 5:30 at Onondaga Community College’s Allyn Hall.
In the case of Bishop Grimes, the challenges kept coming, yet it found its way into the sectional Class B quarterfinals with a good opportunity to knock off a state top-10-ranked opponent.
As if all it had faced wasn’t enough, the Cobras had seen its leading scorer, Gia Kinsey, get sidelined late in the regular season, but her teammates stepped up, especially in Wednesday’s tense 63-56 playoff win over Lowville.
Grimes, the no. 6 seed, would lead a large portion of the game, but not find itself able to pull away from a Raiders side that kept finding ways to stay close, including a quartet of jump shots that were too strong – but went off the backboard and swished.
It almost worked, too, as Lowville took a 54-49 lead with less than four minutes left. What was more, two Cobras starters, Kierra Baxter and Sicily Schaffer, were briefly injured and had to leave the game before returning.
Olivia Bitz would turn it around, hitting on consecutive 3-pointers, including the go-ahead basket with 1:47 to play. Then she, along with her teammates, turned it up on defense, holding Lowville without a point for more than four minutes while, at the same time, hitting on eight of 10 free throws to put the game away.
Bitz finished with a season-high 18 points, only the third time she had reached double figures all season. Aaliyah Zachery also had 18 points as Schaffer got 13 points and Baxter added nine points.
Now Grimes would face no. 3 seed Marcellus in Friday night’s Class B quarterfinal, having lost to the Mustangs 59-46 in January as it was unable to stop the duo of Cece Powell (32 points) and Tenly Baker (21 points) on that occasion.
Exactly the same thing happened here, too, only this time it was a 55-38 decision that involved the Cobras getting held to four points in the first quarter and, after closing the gap to 25-21 at halftime, seeing Marcellus decide it with an 18-9 push through the third quarter.
No matter what it tried, Grimes couldn’t stop Powell, who had 26 points, eight rebounds, five assists and five steals, or Baker, who got 21 points and nine rebounds. In defeat, Zachery led the Cobras with 16 points as Baxter had 10 points, but the reset of the roster had just four total field goals.
