January 29, 2012
Not a bad Friday for Breanna Stewart. In the afternoon, the C-NS senior finds out she is the USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year for 2011, an honor normally reserved for adult players. Then she passes 2,000 career points that night in the Northstars' latest rout, over Auburn.
That wasn't the only honors of the week. Thousand Island's Kristin McGraw surpassed the 1,000-point mark. Syracuse Academy of Science's girls won its first-ever varsity game, tipping established Pulaski Thursday night on a 3-pointer in the waning seconds.
It went to the coaching ranks, too. Canastota's Marsha Laidlaw became the second coach in state history in any sport to surpass 700 career wins when the Raiders swept Clinton on Jan. 23, and Lowville's Jim Rhodes followed with his 300th win a night later.
Then there was the announcement of the Section III Wrestling Hall of Fame Class of 2011, to be honored at a November banquet at Borio's on Oneida Lake. Seamus Lyman and Pete Capone, from Watertown, join Canastota's Terry Showalter and contributor Steve Lowe on the list. And so does Fulton coach Mike Conners, fresh off seeing his Red Raiders win the Section III Dual Meet the week before.
Saturday marked the start of the wrestling post-season. Indian River defended its home mats and beat the likes of South Jefferson and General Brown for the Frontier League title, while Canastota went to the top of the Center State Conference meet at Adirondack and Cazenovia did the same in the OHSL Liberty/Patriot gathering.
And yes, there were plenty of big games, even amid a lighter schedule during Regents week. On the rink, Skaneateles survived a 3-2 thriller at Oswego Thursday to tie the Bucs atop the Division II standings. Homer won a clash of unbeaten girls volleyball teams over Tully in four sets, though both are solid sectional favorites.
In boys basketball, it's all about anticipation at this point - waiting for J-D vs. Cortland on Tuesday, Oswego's trip to Utica Proctor, Bishop Grimes' rematch with Bishop Grimes and, on Wednesday, the Institute of Technology Central-Syracuse Academy of Science rematch.
Proctor and Henninger appear to be pulling away as Class AA standard-bearers, a la Ludden-Grimes, J-D-Cortland and New York Mills-Sackets Harbor in other classes. Only Class C has a pile of favorites, though even there Cooperstown is a safe favorite.
To some degree, the same is true on the girls side, where wins last week sets up a pair of huge games in the days ahead - Maggie Brown and Cortland trying to topple unbeaten J-D, then New Hartford visiting Utica-Notre Dame with the Tri-Valley League title on the line. The unbeatens from Westhill and South Jefferson keep rolling, as does C-NS.
January is winding down. February, with all of its big decisions in all the winter sports, now looms.
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