Even before it went into the tough OHSL Liberty division the Bishop Grimes girls basketball team could safely say that it survived – and even thrived a bit – amid tough competition against larger schools.
After a second-place finish in Baldwinsville’s Bill Middleton Tip-Off Tournament on Nov. 29 and 30 the Cobras had to turn around and face its neighbors from Jamesvile-DeWitt for its third game in four days.
Challenged again, Grimes answered it and beat the Red Rams 51-40, spoiling the debut for new J-D head coach Randy Wright.
Baskets were tough to find for both teams throughout the first half. J-D trailed early, but did enough in the second quarter to inch into a 20-19 lead at the break.
Yet it was the Cobras who took over in the third period, limiting the Rams to six points while sprinting out in front for good and then stretching out its margin to double digits in the closing minutes.
Riley Abernethy netted eight of her 10 points in the fourth quarter. Sicily Shafer also had 10 points, with Aaliyah Zachery getting nine points and Kierra Baxter adding eight points.
On J-D’s side, most of Miyoshi LaClair’s 11 points came from a trio of 3-pointers. Sadie Withers had 10 points, but the Cobras held Ava Sandroni without a field goal as all of Sandroni’s seven points came at the foul line.
Friday brought season debuts for Fayetteville-Manlius and East Syracuse Minoa, and each side would take defeats – the Hornets to Indian River, the Spartans to Henninger.
F-M’s challenge was facing the reigning sectional Class A champions, and the Hornets played quite well in the first half, trading baskets and taking a 22-21 lead to the break.
But the Wolves went in front in the third quarter and stayed there, overcoming a career-best 27 points by Lydia Land-Steves that incldued five 3-pointers as Taylor Novack added 13 points. IR’s Keera Lalonde, fouled often, earned 14 of her 26 points at the free-throw line as teammate Allison LaMora put up 24 points.
ESM, meanwhile, was close against Henninger, dropping a 41-39 decision where the Spartans led early, gave up that advantage to the Black Knights in the middle stages and could not quite rally late.
Aniyah Jones, ESM’s top returning scores, had 15 points, with Sonya Benhassen close behind earning 13 points. That equaled the top totals of Henninger’s Sanai Lee (15) and Inese Odom (13), but the difference
was the seven points put up by Alayna Wood.
A tough Saturday for local sides had J-D dropping a 75-45 decision to St. Mary’s (Lancaster) despite Sandroni’s 16 points and Christian Brothers Academy absorb a 56-36 loss to Academy of Holy Names in its opener, with Cara Macaluso earning 10 points, Liana Thomas nine points and Maya White eight points.
J-D also lost Sunday to Rochester’s Bishop Kearney 59-43, unable to recover from getting outscored 19-4 in the second quarter. Sandroni continued to propel the J-D attack, earning 16 points, while Samantha Wheeler finished with 11 points and Withers had six points.
