It took just two tries for the Oneida girls basketball team to break into the win column in 2010-11, as it went to Holland Patent last Tuesday night and emerged with a 49-47 victory over the Golden Knights. This game went back and forth, as the Indians led 14-8 after one period, only to gradually surrender that advantage over the course of the next two periods. In fact, going into the fourth quarter, Oneida trailed 40-36. Still down by four with two minutes left, the Indians made one last spurt, pulling even with HP, and with 58 seconds left Abby McNichol broke open for a lay-up that put Oneida ahead for good. Erika Williams’ pair of late free throws proved to be the winning points. Jaclyn Cavanaugh, with 13 points, led a balanced Oneida attack. Jenna Didio got 10 points as McNichol earned eight points and Williams added seven points. HP’s Allison Friermuth led both sides with 15 points. As for Vernon-Verona-Sherrill, it lost on Tuesday to Clinton 60-44. A 13-13 game broke open in the second quarter, when the Warriors outscored the Red Devils 16-3, a run from which VVS could not recover. Leanne Doolen still managed a double-double, with 10 points and 11 rebounds, as Marissa Randall had a team-high 14 points and Codie Bayeur added nine points. Kate Thompson led Clinton to victory as she produced 20 points. On Friday night, VVS went to Camden and engaged in a wild and exciting affair where, despite an astonishing performance by the Blue Devils’ Lindsay Jones, the Red Devils still pulled out a 77-72 victory. All looked fine for VVS as, over the course of the first three periods, it shredded Camden’s defense and steadily built a 54-39 lead. Then Jones really took off. Already with 21 points to her credit, she tried, single-handedly, to win the game, getting 27 of her team’s 33 points in those last eight minutes. All told, it was 48 points, shattering the Camden school record for a single game (40) set by Amanda Paul 17 years ago. Jones’ efforts cut the VVS margin to two with 1:30 to play, but late free throws by Bayeur, who finished with 17 points, finally allowed the Red Devils to escape. Tracy Scheibel led with 19 points as Ashley Palmer improved to 14 points and Randall got 10 points. Ally Hojohn had seven points. Oneida, meanwhile, hosted New Hartford and, in a game with far less scoring, lost to the Spartans 49-36. The Indians saw an 11-9 lead disappear when New Hartford dominated the second quarter, 16-4, and cruised from there. Didio, with 12 points, was the only Oneida player to reach double figures as Ashley Chanatry paced New Hartford with 18 points. On Tuesday, Oneida would take on Clinton and VVS would get a shot at unbeaten Whitesboro.