Across the sports spectrum, the cliche about defense winning championships gets tossed out there. Like any cliche, it’s based on plenty of facts, which is why it gets repeated.
And there’s no question that the West Genesee girls basketball team has taken that cliche and applied it all through it march to the top of the CNY Counties League – with plenty more, including a Section III Class AA title, still left to achieve.
Few games this season capture the state Class AA no. 21-ranked Wildcats’ defensive mindset, and its effectiveness, than Thursday night’s 47-36 victory over Baldwinsville, which all but clinched for WG the CNCYL regular-season championship.
What decided this game was how stingy the Wildcats were at the outset, not allowing a field goal in the game’s first seven minutes, and down the stretch, when it erased a brief deficit and, again, kept B’ville from producing any baskets.
WG fully expected that this encounter with B’ville would not resemble the 51-25 rout back on Jan. 6 in Camillus, where the Bees were coming off a two-week layoff and played one of its worst games of the season.
Now at 12-4 on the season, B’ville was riding a six-game win streak, though it would go up against the Wildcats without starting forward Carolyn Brussel, out with a thumb injury.
The combination of adjustment without Brussel and the relentless Wildcats pressure led to that first-quarter field goal drought that wasn’t broken until Jenna Costello’s 3-pointer in the last minute of the period.
It was Costello, with her 11 first-half points, that helped push B’ville out of its early drought and climb within one, 17-16, midway through the second quarter. Just as quickly, though, WG pushed the margin back to 24-18 by halftime.
Now the Bees met the Wildcats’ intensity and, again, cut into its deficit during the third quarter. And when Costello hit a 3-pointer from the corner in the opening seconds of the final period, B’ville seized a 32-31 lead.
Facing some adversity, WG met it with patience and poise – plus a lot more defense. Following Claire McAllister’s basket with 5:05 to play, B’ville did not convert another field goal, the Wildcats contesting every shot and forcing a rash of turnovers.
Meanwhile, the Wildcats’ balanced offense produced enough as it outscored the Bees 16-4 down the stretch. Six of those points came from Madison Smith, who finished with 12 points, just behind her sister, Mackenzie Smith, who led with 14 points. Haley Collins and Mya Case contributed eight points apiece.
Two nights before heading to Baldwinsville, WG first made a visit to Nottingham, a team it had already beaten four weeks earlier. The rematch went the same route as the Wildcats pushed past the Bulldogs 56-28.
A 17-6 push through the first quarter set the game’s tone, and the margin grew to 50-24 before the Wildcats rested its starters in the fourth quarter, having ultimately seen all 10 of the players in its rotation earn at least one field goal.
Haley Collins, with 11 points, led this deep, well-balanced effort, Madison Smith finished with nine points, while Meghan Mello gained seven points. Mackenzie Smith and Camryn Chawgo earned six points apiece.
What remains for WG in this regular season is a Tuesday visit to the same Liverpool team it beat on Jan. 24, plus games next Friday against Henninger and Feb. 14 at Corcoran.