CENTRAL NEW YORK – Even as it went 6-4 through the first half of the regular season, the Jamesville-DeWitt girls basketball team rarely provided the kind of performance which suggested that it could contend for a championship. But that may have changed last Tuesday night against neighbor and rival East Syracuse Minoa as the Red Rams unleashed a defense which stifled the Spartans most of the way and led to an easy 49-24 victory. This was the kind of effort which was routine during J-D’s state Class A championship run from 2016 to 2018, when opponents never could solve the combination of pressure and poise the Rams threw at them. Not once did ESM score in double digits in any quarter, peaking with nine points in the third quarter. By then, the Rams already owned a 31-13 advantage and would put the game further out of reach. Ava Sandroni nearly equaled the Spartans by herself leading J-D with 21 points. Sadie Withers added seven points as the Rams collectively the Spartans’ Aniyah Jones holding her to nine points as Sonya Benhassen got six points. ESM played Central Square Thursday and lost, 50-38, to the Redhawks, who jumped out to a 24-5 first-quarter advantage with red-hot shooting and plenty of defense, too. Closing the gap to 27-16 by halftime, the Spartans could not make up much more ground, Central Square winning its fifth in a row behind 14 points from Emily Waldron, 12 points from Olivia Chiaramonte and 10 points and 13 rebounds from Taylor Adams. Rebounding on Friday night, ESM put away Homer 48-34 by overcoming a 26-19 halftime deficit. A 14-4 third-quarter push gave the Spartans the lead for good as it improved to 4-8 overall. J-D won on Friday, too, shutting down Oswego 45-25 in a game where the Buccaneers were held to nine first-half points. Withers almost matched Oswego by herself with 20 points, most of it from four 3-pointers, while Sandroni gained 11 points and Samantha Wheeler got seven points. Christian Brothers Academy would find itself taking on Marcellus last Tuesday night and got half of what it desired on the defensive side, but not enough of it to avoid a 43-28 defeat to the Mustangs. The Brothers actually had an 11-9 lead through one quarter. Then it managed a grand total of six points in the second and third periods as Marcellus moved in front and stayed there. CBA held one of the Mustangs’ 1,000-point scorers, Tenly Baker, to eight points, but could not contain the other one, Cece Powell, who finished with 17 points. Ryann Murphy, with 10 points, was the only Brothers player to reach double figures. Without any rest, CBA played again 24 hours later against Cortland and, while modestly picking up its production, also improved on defense to defeat the Purple Tigers 40-31. Cortland managed just six points in each of the first two quarters, allowing the Brothers to inch out in front despite its own inconsistency finding baskets. Then it outscored the Purple Tigers 16-11 in the third quarter to add to its margin. Spreading the production around, CBA had Liana Thomas lead with 10 points. Cara Macaluso got nine points, while Lilah Kirch gained eight points and Maya White gained seven points. Fayetteville-Manlius was overwhelmed last Wednesday in a 61-25 defeat, the Hornets unable to take advantage of the absence of Liverpool’s top scorer, A’briyah Cunningham. LHS’s defense held F-M to seven or fewer points in every single quarter, Lydia Land-Steves finishing with nine points and Taylor Novack adding six points.