CENTRAL NEW YORK – Again the Bishop Grimes girls basketball team faced a serious threat to its state Class B top ranking but found a way to victory, even short-handed.
The Cobras’ 50-48 oertime victory over Christian Brothers Academy last Friday night was even more impressive given that Grimes did not have one of its top players, Aaliyah Zachery, but still found a way to improve to 13-2 overall.
It didn’t look that stresssful at the start, the Cobras roaring to a 19-8 lead through one period only to have CBA erase most of that margin before halftime.
By the third quarter the Brothers were in front, and it played hard to keep that advantage, but now the Cobras rallied, pushed the game 50-50 into overtime and then played superb defense in the fourt-minute extra period holding the Brothers to just two points.
Sicily Shaffer paced Grimes with 18 points. Riley Abernethy stepped up with 12 points as Kierra Baxter got seven points. Liana Thomas led CBA with 14 points, Cara Macaluso getting 11 points and Mari Catherine Giamartino earning nine points.
That same night Jamesville-DeWitt won its own tense 49-45 battle over Central Square, putting an end to the Redhawks’ seven-game win streak and completing a regular-season sweep.
Having handled Central Square 52-41 in December, the Red Rams found the rematch instantly tougher as it fell behind 17-9 through one period, only to make it up by halftime and lead 24-23 at the break.
Inching up the margin to 38-31 going to the final period, J-D saw Central Square fight back within a field goal in the final two minutes but,with key defensive stops, held on to its slim margin.
Ava Sandroni’s 22 points was nearly half her team’s output, helped by Lindsay Parker getting 11 points and Savannah Schnorr six points. Payton St. Clair (16 points) and Hannah Waldron (14 points) paced the Redhawks.
As this went on, East Syracuse Minoa got its own victory over Auburn 57-45, a game that was tight most of the way but saw the Spartans’ defense take over in the fourth quarter when it held the Maroons to three points.
On the offensive end ESM was very much a two-player show. If I wasn’t Aniyah Jones earning 24 points, it was Sonya Benhassen grabbing 21 points while adding nine rebounds and three assists. Bella Kroll added six points.