No one associated with Bishop Grimes Junior/Senior High School wanted this girls basketball season to end, savoring every step taken on this bittersweet championship journey.
In the storybook, the Cobras mark its final season together with the program’s first and only state championship.
The reality turned out different as, in Saturday night’s Class B regional final at Troy’s Hudson Valley Community College, Grimes dropped a 53-45 decision to Section II’s Voorheesville.
All through the first game’s early stages it remained tight, with the Cobras trading rare baskets during a low-scoring first half. Trailing 17-15 at the break, the offense picked up on both ends and Grimes was within one, 28-27, with one period left.
Eight lead changes followed in the fourth quarter, with the issue in doubt until Voorheesville hit six consecutive free throws in the final minute, earning a return trip to Troy for this weekend’s state final four.
All game long Sicily Shaffer carried Grimes’ offense, ultimately finishing with 26 points. But no other Cobras player got to double figures as Aaliyah Zachery finished with six points and Riley Abernethy was held to six points.
Two wins were required in the regional round, starting last Wednesday at Fayetteville-Manlius High School where Grimes controlled matters against Section X champion Canton in a 55-39 victory.
With a large and loud crowd cheering them from the opening tip, the Cobras played superb defense, not allowing Canton to reach double-digit points in any of the first three quarters.
Meanwhile, on offense Grimes built a 47-23 advantage with the same duo of Shaffer and Abernethy which led the way in the sectional final win over General Brown.
Shaffer produced a team-high 18 points, while Abernethy earned 14 points, her fifth straight double-digit scoring effort in a playoff game. Aaliyah Zachery contributed nine points and Olivia Bitz, aside from her usual strong all-around play, got six points.
Though it would not win again, the final season of Grimes girls basketball was memorable in so many ways, from the regular-season OHSL Liberty National division title it earned to the two times it spent in the no. 1 spot in the state rankings.
And it culminated with a sectional playoff run right in the middle of the emotional tidal wave of the announcement from the Syracuse Diocese that Grimes would close at the end of the school year and merge with Bishop Ludden for 2025-26.
Since the team only had one senior (Kierra Baxter), what happens to the rest of the players will prove a popular topic in the weeks and months ahead.
But what they all do apart might never compare to what they did together, uniting a school community to celebrate itself, and each other, one more time.