Jamestown proved to be too tough for either of Clarence’s basketball teams to conquer late last week, as both the Lady Red Devils’ road trip and the Red Devils’ home game resulted in league setbacks.

Clarence’s girls team had some trouble breaking Jamestown’s press early in Thursday’s 50-38 loss, which led to a 23-8 deficit heading into the second quarter. The Lady Red Raiders came unglued a bit — as evidenced by a technical foul and a set of circumstances that led to Jamestown’s coach not returning for the second half — in the second quarter, which allowed Clarence to close the gap to seven points going into the second half, 30-23.

The Lady Red Devils continued to hang tough in the third quarter to trail 42-33 going into the final stanza, but in the end Jamestown’s three-point shooting and ability to crash the boards proved too big an obstacle to overcome in the end.

“We played good, solid defense in the second half, but our problems handling their pressure — and the turnovers their pressure caused — wound up hurting us a little too much,” girls coach Erin Booker said. “We knew going into the game that we had to do well against their three-point shooters, and that we needed to box out on the defensive boards, but we came up just a little short.”

Tori Nappo made three three-point baskets in the first half to account for nine of her 18 points, while Katie Devine added six points. Mo Rogers and Liz Schaefer (10 rebounds) each chipped in with five points for Clarence.

The Lady Red Devils (9-6, 6-4 ECIC I) returned to action Tuesday against West Seneca West, but information about that contest was not available at press time. Clarence will close out its week at Orchard Park Thursday, after which it has just three league games, and four games overall, left on its schedule.

“We’re playing more than we usually do in February, so there are a lot of opportunities for us to improve our seeding for the playoffs,” Booker said. “Our focus moving forward is still going to be on our defensive play, but we also need to work on eliminating our turnovers and just handling the ball better in general against pressure. We’ve definitely got some tough games to play still.”

Clarence’s boys team, meanwhile, made a spirited comeback bid in the fourth quarter, but Jamestown’s 25-point lead in the third proved to be too much to overcome as the Red Devils were upended by nine Friday, 68-59.

Stephen Hughes put the Red Devils on his shoulders for Clarence’s fourth quarter rally, scoring 16 of his career-high 33 points in the final stanza. Hughes went 16-of-17 from the free throw line over the course of the game, including converting on a number of clutch chances in the fourth to help the Red Devils pull as close as five points.

Jamestown, which made just one field goal in the fourth, caught a break when the streaking Red Devils missed a three while trailing by five. That miss seemed to turn the tide back in Jamestown’s favor, as the Red Raiders ultimately held on for the win.

“We made a good run to come back on them, but we just dug ourselves too big of a hole early on to pull it off,” boys coach Todd Banaszak said. “We played them pretty much even after the first quarter — they were hitting everything in the first quarter. We just didn’t come out hard enough against them.”

Bobby Florio chipped in with 10 points for the Red Devils, while Andrew Jost added seven points.

Clarence (8-5, 5-4 ECIC I) returned to action at West Seneca West Tuesday, but information about that contest was not available at press time. The Red Devils close out their week by hosting Orchard Park Friday, which will then leave Clarence with three remaining league games through the middle of the month.

“We really just need to start hitting some outside shots again, like we were earlier in the season, and also have some of our big guys step up a bit inside,” Banaszak said.