The Marathon girls basketball team used a strong first half, did not let Spencer-Van Etten gain any type of momentum, and the Olympians won 44-22 Friday at Marathon High School.
Marathon’s first half was huge in its victory. The Olympians not only shut down Spencer-Van Etten, but they managed to score more points than the Panthers finished with in total in just two quarters.
Abby Ensign scored nine points in the first quarter and Audrey Ensign added six while Spencer-Van Etten only scored six points as a team. Marathon quickly was up 19-6 after the first. The Olympians only scored seven points in the second quarter, all coming from Abby Ensign, but they held the Panthers to one point and took a commanding 26-7 lead into halftime.
Marathon approached Friday’s contest a bit differently defensively, but it worked out tremendously once it got going. The Olympians quick lead was something Spencer-Van Etten could not climb back from.
“It was huge to get out to that early lead,” Marathon head coach Beth Anne Duncan said. “We usually press right from the jump, but I wanted to just take it back a little bit. We started the first two minutes in man-to-man just to settle in. I was like ‘let’s settle in first and take them by surprise’ then we took the press up when the score was 4-4, but after that point we had complete control.”
Marathon made every offensive possession difficult for the opposition. A few easy layups appeared here and there, but overall, the Olympians pressured the ball with force and put together a stout defensive performance.
“I really harped on the ball pressure because I don’t think they have a lot of ball handlers on the team, so we really wanted to take advantage of that,” Duncan said. “It also makes that interior pass harder and just helps the defense. They worked together well and were talking.”
Duncan was also impressed with her team and their ability to listen and learn on the fly on the defensive end.
“I’ve been talking to them about not getting beat on the same play twice,” Duncan said. “I want them to learn from it instead of letting the other team do what they want to do. This game it happened to us on a shot from the corner, but they picked it up and didn’t let it happen again. They’re learning from things.”
Abby Ensign led Marathon with 18 points, Audrey Ensign added nine, Addie Oram had eight, Anna Hoyt had five and Kendre Euson and Cassandra Forrest had two.
Marathon faces a tough test at 7:15 p.m. Tuesday at home against divisional foe Moravia.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
CORTLAND 43, GENERAL BROWN 31
In a tough test on the road against a strong opponent, Cortland used a strong defensive performance and a 13-5 run in the third quarter to help defeat General Brown and move to an impressive 9-0 on the season. The Purple Tigers were led by their key players offensively, but once again showed their strength in numbers. Kendall Mack led the way with 15 points, Valerosa Gambitta scored 12, Lily Yang had six, Zee-Anna Sweat had five, Claire Turner had four and Aubree Larkin added a point.
OWEGO APALACHIN 54, HOMER 31
Homer was within nine points at the half, but a strong third quarter from Owego Apalachin led to a 20-7 run to pull away from the Trojans. Lauren Franco led Homer with eight points, Lizzy McCloy added six points, Elia Spanbauer had five, Madison Morgan and Anya Gofkowski each had three and Isabelle Small, Kaylee Darling and Aislynn Cobb added two.
GROTON 45, ODESSA-MONTOUR 31
Devyn Blasz powered the offense with a 23-point performance and Groton maintained a steady lead after halftime with strong defense to beat Odessa-Montour. Groton held the Grizzlies to 11 combined points in the second and third quarter while adding to its lead. Behind the big night from Blasz, Ellie Dykeman had nine points, Jill Zigenfus and Sharla Lockwood had four and Maddie Perkins and Delaney Ayer each had two.
MORAVIA 53, CANDOR 17
Moravia continued its strong play this season with a dominant win over Candor powered by an all-around effort. The Blue Devils took a 20-4 lead in the first quarter and never looked back. Jordan Smith led the way with 15 points, Gabby Heim had 10, Allison Kehoe added nine, Caraline Wasileski had eight, Kendall Hess had four, Kylee Cooper, Lily Heim and Lashley Heredia Castillo had two and Daisy Drake had one.
BOYS BASKETBALL
MORAVIA 61, CANDOR 54
Moravia earned a statement win on the road over No. 7 state ranked Candor. Abram Wasileski led the Blue Devils with 16 points and six rebounds, Aiden Kelly added 15 points and eight rebounds, Drew Nye had 12 points, Kyler Proper had seven points and eight assists, Riley Jones had six points and Logan Bell had five.
CARTHAGE 65, CORTLAND 50
Cortland overcame a slow start and had a fourth quarter surge against Carthage, but the Purple Tigers couldn’t slow down Makiah Johnson and the Comets and fell. Johnson finished with 30 points. Caden and Cal Albright each had 10 points for Cortland, Jaxson Gambitta, Owen Johnson and Zach Muir added seven, Tyler Thomas had four, Damauri Bell had three and Antonio Terrazas had two.
MCGRAW 61, OTSELIC VALLEY 31
McGraw set the pace and controlled it while using a strong team effort offensively to power it to a dominant win. Caleb Epp led the Eagles with 15 points, eight rebounds, four assists and four steals, Dylan Truman had 13 points, Calob Sutton added nine points and four assists, Jaydon Bassett had eight points and 12 rebounds, Thomas Lea had six, Cody Ross had four and Blair Mulcahy, Noah Heath and Riley VanLiew each scored two.
TULLY 64, ONTECH 45
Four different players scored in double figures for Tully and the Black Knights hung onto the momentum all game for the win. Lorenzo Garafalo finished with 21 points, Zeke Mohat added 14 points and Connor Bastedo and Sean Mize each had 10 to lead Tully offensively.
FABIUS-POMPEY 52, CINCINNATUS 36
Canden Stafford put in 23 points, but Cincinnatus was outscored 17-5 in the second quarter and couldn’t climb back. Fabius-Pompey took a 16-point lead into halftime and that was the difference. Trevor Shevalier added four points for the Lions and Jack Stafford, Johnny Schuyler and Zach Streichert added three points.
MARATHON 72, SPENCER-VAN ETTEN 43
Zach Birdsall erupted for 27 points and eight rebounds and Bryce Hartman poured in 21 points and five steals in three quarters to help lead Marathon to a blowout win. Austin Poth added eight points for the Olympians, Camdyn Kashuba had seven, Bode Carter had four, Colton Oram had three and Jake Byron had two.
DERUYTER 42, STOCKBRIDGE VALLEY 40
DeRuyter went into the final quarter down 33-28, but the Rockets used a 14-7 run in the final frame to power themselves to a win.
DRYDEN 67, ELMIRA HEIGHTS 29
Dryden controlled the tempo and dominated right from the jump to cruise to a win.
GIRLS VOLLEYBALL
FABIUS-POMPEY 3, CINCINNATUS 1
Fabius-Pompey won the first set 25-14, but Cincinnatus leveled the score with a 26-24 win in set number two. The Falcons managed to win the final two sets though by scores of 25,16, 25-19 for the victory.
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
BOYS BASKETBALL
Onondaga at Cortland, 6:45 p.m. Monday
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Cortland at Indian River, noon today
McGraw at A-P-W, 12:30 p.m. today
McGraw at Morrisville-Eaton, 6:30 p.m. Monday
Cincinnatus at Harpursville, 6 p.m. Monday
Solvay at Tully, 7 p.m. Monday
GIRLS VOLLEYBALL
Cincinnatus at Sherburne-Earlville, 9 a.m. today
Tully at Weedsport, 12:30 p.m. today
McGraw at Cincinnatus, 7 p.m. Monday
Fabius-Pompey at DeRuyter, 7 p.m. Monday
WRESTLING
Marathon at Odessa-Montour, 9 a.m. today
Dryden at Fayetteville-Manlius, 7:30 a.m. today
Southern Hills at Canastota, 9:30 a.m. today
Moravia at Port Byron, 9 a.m. today
INDOOR TRACK & FIELD
Cortland at Onondaga Community College, 3 p.m. today
Homer, Tully at Onondaga Community College, 9 a.m. today
