The McGraw girls basketball team jumped all over Otselic Valley early and cruised to a 50-25 win Friday night at McGraw High School. The win was the Eagles’ fourth in a row and puts them in pole position for the first CCL title in 46 years.
It took a few minutes, but once McGraw scored the game’s first points the Eagles got out and running. McGraw put on its diamond press and caused havoc for Otselic Valley, leading to an 11-3 lead after a quarter. McGraw head coach Corey Wilson loves to get that press working and it has been the key to his girls’ success so far.
“Our style, we like to press you,” Corey Wilson said. “We like to press you and try to get points in transition.”
Getting the press going set the tone for the rest of the game, with McGraw getting easy buckets all night and opening up a 23-9 lead at halftime.
“Every single game so far, the first quarter has been a big quarter for us,” Corey Wilson said. “It’s really important just to settle everybody down.”
The Eagles got a bit sloppy defensively in the second half, leading to plenty of Otselic Valley free throw attempts. The Vikings couldn’t make enough field goals to get back into it.
Emersynn Wilson paced McGraw with 17 points, four rebounds, two assists and four steals, while Leah Terwilliger added 11 points, two rebounds, an assist and seven steals. Allie West contributed six points, three boards and three steals, Mikayla Ross pitched in five points and two rebounds and Lexi McCall had four points, 12 rebounds and two steals. Josslyn Eaton (two points, four rebounds, two steals), Addi Rolewicz (two points), Casianna Vasquez (two points), Eden Sears (one point, one rebound, one assist, one steal), Bristol Eastman (three rebounds, one steal), Jordan Maynard (three rebounds) and Tatum Bonyak (one rebound) all aided McGraw’s winning effort as well.
Corey Wilson has seen his team win just nine games over the past three seasons, but this newer group of girls is almost halfway to that total already. The new-look Eagles play with a lot more patience and spacing than in the past, which the head coach attributes to just a few girls looking to better their game.
“We have a young team, but we have some athleticism and some girls that play travel ball over the summer, which has really helped,” Corey Wilson said. “It helps everybody else. It steps up everybody else’s game. It helps with the IQ and gets everybody going.”
The Eagles are now 4-0 in CCL play, with wins over Stockbridge Valley, Madison, Otselic Valley and Brookfield. McGraw is yet to play 0-7 Cincinnatus before cycling through the league one more time. All of the first four league wins have been by double digits, with an average margin of victory of 20.25 points. Corey Wilson knows his girls are staring down the barrel of the first league title since 1979.
“We have an opportunity to change that narrative this year,” Corey Wilson said. “That would be huge for girls sports in general at our school, which is pretty cool.”
McGraw will look to run its winning streak to five at 2 p.m. Dec. 28 at Fabius-Pompey Jr./Sr. High School in the first round of the Fabius-Pompey Sports Boosters Holiday Tournament against Poland. The second day of the tournament is Dec. 30, with the Eagles facing either Fabius-Pompey or Otselic Valley.
BOYS BASKETBALL
TULLY 82, LAFAYETTE 35
Connor Bastedo had a career night for Tully, dropping 47 points on 15 twos and five threes as the Black Knights dominated LaFayette. Tully took a 48-14 lead into halftime after a 28-2 second quarter.
Garrett Thompson added 17 points with three 3-pointers behind Bastedo, Nathan Best added six points in his varsity debut, Sean Mize had five points, Steven Pierce and Wyatt Lund both had two points and Darrell Gables’ one point rounded out the Black Knights’ effort.
MARCELLUS 84, HOMER 43
Jack Brady led Homer with eight points as the Trojans got down 47-24 at halftime against the defending Class B state runner-up.
Lincoln Marshall and Ryan Beard scored six points each, Brycen Poole notched five points, Kaden Durham went for four, Cooper Hollenbeck had three, Graydon Hickey contributed two and Dane Francis pitched in one.
MARATHON 69, SPENCER-VAN ETTEN 29
Marathon took a 36-22 lead into halftime then dominated the second half to snap a four-game losing streak. Camdyn Kashuba led the Olympians by going off for 28 points on six made threes, five rebounds, three assists and three steals.
Austin Poth followed Kashuba with 14 points on three triples, seven boards, an assist and a steal, Blake Birdsall notched eight points, eight rebounds, two assists, a steal and two blocks and Colton Oram added eight points, two rebounds, four assists and two steals. Barrett Trabucco (four points, one rebound, two assists, seven steals), Tucker Trabucco (four points, one rebound, three assists, one steal), Aidan Courtney (three points, two assists) and Robbie Anderson (one rebound, one steal) also contributed for Marathon.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
BROOKFIELD 34, CINCINNATUS 11
Lydia Scutt scored all 11 of Cincinnatus’ points, but the Lions lost the fourth quarter 16-0 after trailing 16-11 heading in.
GIRLS VOLLEYBALL
CINCINNATUS 3, FAITH HERITAGE 1
Cincinnatus won 24-26, 25-17, 25-16, 25-21 to remain unbeaten at 4-0 and extend its 14-match winning streak dating back to last season.
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
BOYS BASKETBALL
Lansing at Groton, 3:30 p.m. Monday
Norwich at Moravia, 6 p.m. Monday
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Indian River at Cortland, 12:45 p.m. today
Cooperstown at Tully, 1:30 p.m. today
GIRLS VOLLEYBALL
DeRuyter at Port Byron, 11:30 a.m. today
BOYS WRESTLING
Homer at Walton, 9:30 a.m. today
Dryden at Baldwinsville, 9 a.m. today
GIRLS WRESTLING
Groton at Niagara Community College, 10 a.m. today
INDOOR TRACK & FIELD
Cortland, DeRuyter at Onondaga Community College, 9 a.m. today
Groton, Dryden at SUNY Cortland, 9 a.m. today
BOYS SWIMMING & DIVING
Dryden at Marcus Whitman, 11 a.m. today
