In 2023-24 and 2024-25, the Trojans swept Salamanca to claim outright league titles.

When the teams met a little less than a month ago in Salamanca, Southwestern walked away with a 53-38 victory and a leg up on this year’s league title.

But the Warriors still had a chance Thursday evening to put themselves in position to split the Division 1 crown.

They took full advantage of their opportunity.

Southwestern’s Gianna Sirianni puts up a shot over Salamanca’s Arabelle Reynolds during CCAA Division 1 girls basketball action on Thursday. P-J photo by Matt Spielman

Sophomore Kynleigh Wass had 12 points, nine rebounds, seven assists and two steals to lead Salamanca to a 52-47 win, meaning a win at Dunkirk on Saturday afternoon will clinch a split title for the Warriors.

“This is a long time coming. They’ve always been the team to beat the last five years I’ve been with this program. We could never get past them,” Salamanca head coach Joe Hinman said. “It felt like a monkey on our back and we finally got it off. It’s another turning point in our program as far as being a complete team effort from start to finish.”

A poor shooting first half for both teams left Salamanca leading 18-14 at the break.

“Our shooting percentage was really low today,” Southwestern head coach Kay Sirianni said. “They are very long and lanky so it is hard to finish at the rim. When you are not shooting great from the outside, you can’t get the layups on a tall team.”

The Warriors’ lead grew to nine as freshman Addison Earley was fouled as she made a 3-pointer and she calmly sank the free throw to give her team a 31-22 lead with 2:33 left in the third quarter.

“I still have chills from that,” said Hinman, who witnessed the shot directly in front of the Salamanca bench. “They weren’t falling for us in the first half. … They made some 3s in the beginning and I knew that ours were going to start falling.”

Another freshman, Liana Jimerson, followed with a putback as Salamanca (14-4, 10-1) found its biggest lead of the night at 33-22, but the Trojans (13-6, 11-1) closed the quarter on an 8-2 run that included a pair of 3-pointers from eighth-grader Gianna Sirianni to make it 37-30 entering the fourth quarter.

Jimerson hit the Warriors’ only other 3-pointer of the game with 6:04 remaining to make it 40-31 before a quick 5-0 Southwestern run made it a four-point game with 5:12 left.

“It felt like we were kind of exchanging buckets back and forth,” Hinman said. ” … It was good to be on the winning side at the end.”

Jimerson and Wass put together a 6-0 run for Salamanca that looked like it might give their team enough of a gap to win, but Trojans sophomore Charlotte Beaver scored 8 points down the stretch to keep her team close.

“She’s the glue to this team,” Hinman said of Wass. “Offense, defense, she’s a top communicator making sure our girls are in the right spots. She’s a sophomore, but she acts like a senior leader.”

Beaver’s putback with 53.8 seconds remaining pulled Southwestern within two, but Jimerson, Maliyah Foster and Wass made 4 of 6 free throws in the final minute as the Warriors held on for the five-point win.

“It’s hard to beat a team three times, so in a way it’s not terrible to take a loss now,” Kay Sirianni said. “Looking forward, we’re thinking we’re going to meet them again in the playoffs and have another chance to get a win.”

NOTES: Jimerson finished with 11 points and seven rebounds; Makenzie Crouse had 8 points and eight rebounds; and Arabelle Reynolds had 7 points for Salamanca, which shot 19 of 48 from the field, including 2 of 10 from 3-point range, and turned the ball over 27 times. … Charlotte Beaver had 17 points and 10 rebounds; Marlana Cresanti had 14 points, eight rebounds, eight steals and six assists; and Sirianni had 10 points and four assists for Southwestern, which shot 17 of 73 from the field, including 6 of 32 from 3-point range, and turned the ball over 15 times.

SALAMANCA (52)

ECrouse 1 0 2, Wass 5 2 12, MCrouse 3 2 8, Galante 0 0 0, Jimerson 3 4 11, Ellis 0 0 0, Earley 1 1 4, Foster 2 2 6, Ross 1 0 2, Reynolds 3 1 7. Totals 19 12 52.

SOUTHWESTERN (47)

Sirianni 3 1 10, Brown 0 0 0, Cresanti 5 4 14, Charles 0 0 0, BBeaver 1 2 4, Edwards 1 0 2, CBeaver 7 0 17, Ricker 0 0 0. Totals 17 7 47.

3-point goals–Jimerson, Earley, Sirianni 3, CBeaver 3.

Salamanca 13 5 19 15 — 52

Southwestern 7 7 16 17 — 47