Not even the foul weather that returned to Central New York last weekend could keep the Hamilton girls basketball team from making a return to the latter stages of the Section III Class D playoffs – and facing someone quite familiar. In Saturday’s snow-delayed Class D quarterfinal, the no. 3 seed Emerald Knights had no trouble with no. 6 seed Cincinnatus, taming the Lions in a 66-25 romp. That sets up a Class D semifinal Wednesday at Utica Proctor against Hamilton’s main Center State Conference rival, no. 2 seed New York Mills, with the winner to get Copenhagen or Sackets Harbor in the sectional final Sunday at noon, across town from Proctor at Utica Memorial Auditorium. Hamilton, of course, beat the Marauders in last year’s title game, and this year the two sides split their regular-season meetings, each winning at home. To make all this happen, the Emerald Knights (16-3), no. 7 in the latest state Class D rankings, first had to get rid of Cincinnatus, and from the time it opened with a 17-7 sprint through the first quarter, the outcome was never in question. Cincinnatus never got into the argument, even though it double-teamed Jordan Peterson and held her to a modest 12 points. The Weeks sisters made the Lions pay for that extra attention, as Katie Weeks shook off a recent illness to record 20 points, including four 3-pointers, and Lauren Weeks worked inside for 17 points. Katherine Keever added six points. In contrast to the girls success, Hamilton’s boys team did not last long in the Class D playoffs as a no. 14 seed, falling to no. 3 seed Lyme 65-39 in last Wednesday night’s opening round. Right away, Lyme went after the Emerald Knights’ defenses, bolting to a 22-13 first-quarter lead. As if to reinforce the point, Lyme scored the first eight points of the second quarter and held Hamilton to four points in that frame. Down 35-17 at the break, the Emerald Knights could not recover, as Cameron Fisher, the target of Lyme’s defensive attention all night, managed just 11 points. Lucas Rhyde added 10 points. Lyme saw Troy Wilson pour in 24 points, with help from Josh Mendez (14 points) and Angelo Williams (12 points) as Hamilton’s season ended with a 7-12 mark. On Thursday night, Morrisville-Eaton’s girls team, with the no. 6 seed in the Class C-2 bracket, saw its season end with a 48-26 loss to no. 3 seed Mohawk. The Warriors had a regular-season mark of 11-7, just one game worse than the Mohicans (12-6), yet it never would get over a slow start on this night. Mohawk scored the game’s first 10 points and had a 16-2 edge by the time the first quarter was done. Harmed all through the game by the Mohicans’ swarming full-court pressure, M-E continued to struggle, the deficit growing to 30-10 by halftime. That pace could not last, but the Warriors could not take advantage of Mohawk’s second-half struggles. Kim Horton and Leigha Morris led M-E with just eight points apiece as the Mohicans saw Christy Traglia record 15 points and Lexy Johnson add 12 points.