CENTRAL NEW YORK – A busy, crowded January for the Cazenovia girls basketball team continued last Monday afternoon when Westhill paid a visit to Buckley Gym.
Traditionally this series had always gone against the Lakers, and it did so here, too, defense the main difference in Cazenovia’s 43-29 defeat.
Already trailing 16-8 after one quarter, Cazenovia’s hopes of rallying were dashed when it managed just two points in the second period, the deficit growing to 28-8.
Battling to the end, the Lakers did see Ella Baker earn 12 points and seven rebounds, while Maria Vacccaro had 10 points, four blocks and three rebounds. Claire Vaccaro added three assists. For Westhill, Kara Rosenberger led with 19 points, Sydney Medeiros adding 11 points and Eva Tarolli getting nine points and eight rebounds.
Cazenovia rebounded 24 hours later crushing Mexico 38-12, a defensive gem where the Lakers surrendered just two points in each of the first three quarters.
Maria Vaccaro, with her 16 points, had four more than the entire Tigers roster, while Baker and Claire Vaccaro got close to them with nine points apiece.
Winning again on Thursday night, the Lakers nearly doubled up Jordan-Elbridge 54-28, building a 45-15 advantage through the first three quarters of play and moving back above the .500 mark (6-5) in the process.
Continuing her quick improvement, Maria Vaccaro managed 21 points, closely followed by Baker putting up 16 points as Claire Vaccaro contributed nine points.
Playing again on Saturday afternoon, Cazenovia unleashed perhaps its best overall defensive performance of the season against Class AA Oswego, smothering the Bucanneers and prevailing 53-22.
From the time it limited Oswego to four first-quarter points the Lakers were in control, and Maria Vaccaro made sure it stayed that way, easily outscoring the Bucs by herself on her way to a career-best 29 points. Baker added 10 points.
Chittenango gained its second victory of the season on Jan. 16 against Canastota, the Bears limiting the Raiders to just two points in the second quarter to seize control and eventually prevail 50-33.
Abby Scheidelman set a new career mark amassing 14 steals to go with her 23 points plus four rebounds and three assists. Persephone Rohrer managed 13 points, while Dominique Brown contributed on defense with nine rebounds.
In last Wednesday’s 49-42 defeat to East Syracuse Minoa the Bears could not recover from getting outscored 16-2 in the second quarter, though Ella Sylstra stepped up with 15 points as Rohrer got 11 points and Scheidelman finished with 10 points. Aniyah Jones’ 22 points paced the Spartans.
In Friday night’s 55-22 victory over Solvay the Bears shut out the Bearcats in the first quarter building an 18-0 advantage. Scheidelman almost equaled the opposition earning 21 points, while Rohrer had 11 points and Sylstra got six points.
