CENTRAL NEW YORK – With each game and each lopsided victory the Marcellus girls basketball team displays that it has the combined star power and defensive prowess to make another run at a long-elusive Section III Class B championship.
Further proof of this was provided last Tuesday night as, for the second time in three weeks, the state no. 17-ranked Mustangs got the best of long-time rival Westhill, not letting up until it had recorded a 59-33 victory.
When they first met Jan. 30 Marcellus took it 54-44, and the rematch at first was quite close, both sides playing solid defense in the first half.
Then the third quarter started and the Mustangs, up 20-19, unloaded in a 20-4 scoring burst where, again, its star duo of Cece Powell and Tenly Baker made the difference.
Powell worked her way to 25 points and Baker was close behind, notching 21 points. Both were way ahead of a Westhill lineup where no one had more than the six points put up by Kara Rosenberger, Sydney Medeiros, Reagan Rogers and Nora Fitzgerald, Eva Tarolli held to four points while pulling down 11 rebounds.
Tremendous as this victory was, what Marcellus did Thursday night against Bishop Ludden may have topped it.
In front of an enthusiastic home crowd the Mustangs put away the Gaelic Knights 75-59, taking charge when it outscored Ludden 23-14 in an active second quarter and prevented any sustained response.
Megan Frost was a big story on this night, burning Ludden for five 3-pointers on her way to a career-best 16 points that augmented what the main duo was doing.
Powell burned the Gaelic Knights for 34 points, a new season mark, and Baker contributed 20 points. They also helped hold Ava Carpenter to eight points, which Ludden could not make up for even though Elizabeth Gaughan got 19 points and Grace Olivia equaled Frost’s five 3-pointers and finished with 18 points.
As a follow-up to its loss to Marcellus, Westhill lost a narrow 49-48 decision to Rome Free Academy a night later, overcoming a 23-18 halftime deficit but not quite able to complete the comeback.
This happened despite Tarolli’s 18 rebounds as she and Medeiros had 11 points apiece just behind Rosenberger’s total of 12 points. Sophia Lasher added seven points.
While Marcellus was beating Westhill Ludden took a setback that same night against visiting Fayetteville-Manlius, shut down in the second half of a 46-35 defeat to the Hornets.
Despite the Gaelic Knights’ 13-4 record, it could not get away from 3-13 F-M in the first half, and the 24-16 margin it would take to the break was gone by the end of the third quarter.
The Hornets limited Ludden to just four points in that frame, found itself in front and kept it going down the stretch, Macie Davey anchoring a defense which locked down in particular on Gaughan (who was shut out) and Sophia Chemotti (just one 3-pointer).
Carpenter and Abby Reynolds led the Gaelic Knights with 13 points apiece, most of it in the early going. F-M got 15 points from Lydia Land-Steves and 12 points from Taylor Novack.
On Friday night Westhill needed overtime to beat Cortland 40-38 in a game where Nora Fitzgerald’s jumper forced the extra period and it held the Purple Tigers without a point in the four minutes of OT even with Rosenberger sidelined by an injury.
Fitzgerald and Tarolli each got 10 points, Tarolli adding nine rebounds. Medeiros got nine points, five rebounds and four assists, Westhill improving its overall record to 11-6.
