By: Dylan O'Loughlin
BATAVIA, N.Y. -- The Pittsford Sutherland Knights wrapped up the 2024-2025 regular season with a 64-41 victory led by sophomore Lucy Bush with a game-high 23 points over the Batavia Blue Devils. Up seven at halftime, fellow sophomore Petra Hunt netted 15 of her 17 points in the third as the Knights outscored Batavia 23-8 in the frame to maintain a double-digit lead the rest of the way.
"I feel like they [Batavia] had a great strategy to start. They were all over us," Sutherland head coach Dan Judd said. "They were very physical; they played very hard and turned us over more than we usually get turned over. That led to a really sloppy first half and that's why it was such a dog fight."
Bush opened up the night with five of the Knights first seven points as Sutherland jumped out to a 7-2 lead. High defensive pressure and half court traps from Batavia caused turnovers for the Knights which turned into points.
Senior forward Jaimin MacDonald and sophomore guard Karizma Wescott knocked down back-to-back triples off the Knights turnovers to take the lead back by one. The sophomore then converted on an old fashioned three-point play to increase the Blue Devils lead to four.
That would be the only lead of the night for the Blue Devils as Bush responded with four straight points. To end the quarter, junior guard Madison Littlefield put up a lay-up to take a 13-11 lead at the end of one.
In the second, Bush continued her offensive dominance. The sophomore scored eight of the Knights' 15 points in the quarter to finish with 17 in the first half.
"I think we just came out to kind of a slow start, but it was a team effort," Bush said. "We just tried to share the ball, get in the paint so we got our open shots and drives in the lane."
Sutherland also brought a full-court press in the second quarter which caused multiple Blue Devils turnovers. The Knights capitalized and opened up an 11-point lead, but four consecutive points from Batavia freshman Ali Tomidy cut the lead to single-digits heading into the locker room.
Coming out of halftime, it was all Hunt. The sophomore opened up the third with a 5-0 run of her own and racked up 10 points in the frame until the Blue Devils scored their first bucket thanks to a MacDonald layup. Hunt knocked down four triples while Bush added six points in the frame as the sophomore duo combined for 21 of Sutherland's 23 in the quarter.
"I missed a lot of shots in the first half, but as everyone tells me, like my dad, shooter's shoot," Hunt said. "You have to keep shooting and the shots will eventually fall, and they did."
Up 22 points in the fourth, Sutherland chewed clock and applied a full-court press to make sure there was no comeback in the making. The Knights outscored Batavia 13-12 in the quarter to come away with a 23-point victory.
This is the fifth straight victory for Sutherland by double-digits and ninth win in the Knights past 10 games. To go along with that, it's the tenth time this season Sutherland had defeated its opponents by 20-plus points.
Alongside Bush and Hunt's scoring, Mackenzie Dermody added six points while Imarys Frank and Madison Littlefield picked up four points apiece. Payton Hamilton knocked down a triple while sister Taylor Hamilton tallied two points along with Gabrielle Lyons.
As the season comes to a close, Sutherland looks ahead to playoffs. This game was a wake-up call as it starts in practice as any team can put up a fight and win on any given night.
"We got to get better every day. We got to take every practice and win practice," Coach Judd said. "We've got to have a better practice than our opponents have that day. That's really our goal. We can't watch their practice, but we got to visualize what's going on and we've got to make sure we have a really good practice."
For Batavia, Macdonald led the way with 13 points while Tomidy followed with 12. Wescott finished with eight points while Addison Arroyo, Violet Lopez and Navaeh Thomas all ended with two points apiece.
"It feels great to compete," Macdonald said. "We've been improving all season and even though we lost, we played better than we had all season. Just working hard in practice and it's been great to see us get better."
With the win, Sutherland ends the season with a 14-6 record and sit as the fourth seed in Class A. As for Batavia, the Blue Devils fall to 1-17 with two games left on the schedule. Next up, Batavia hits the road to take on Churchville-Chili on Tuesday, February 18 with tip-off scheduled for 5:15 p.m.
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