With her sister celebrating senior night, Sterling junior Jossy James also had a memorable game Thursday at Musgrove Fieldhouse.

After Jae James was one of seven seniors honored before the game, Jossy hit three 3-pointers to break the Sterling career record as the Golden Warriors pulled away for a 61-40 win over Geneseo.

“It means a lot,” said Jossy James, who now has 124 3s, breaking the record of 122 held by 2009 graduate Niki Rivera. “Ever since freshman year, I’ve been playing on varsity, and it means a lot to have that as an accomplishment, almost like a landmark that’s set in stone.”

Jossy James and fellow junior Nia Harris led the way in the win for their older teammates. Harris scored 13 of her game-high 20 points in the first quarter, and James scored 14 of her 17 points over the final three periods as Sterling (5-2, 3-1 Western Big 6) never trailed.

With the Maple Leafs (2-4, 1-3 WB6) guarding the perimeter early, Harris feasted inside. She used her athleticism to get to the basket, hit the glass and get in the passing lanes. She finished with eight rebounds, five steals, two assists and a block, and forced Geneseo to adjust defensively.

“I think they usually levitate to our strongest players, and I think that leaves me open most of the time. I just take advantage of that to score,” Harris said. “They were bigger than us, so our biggest thing was rebounding hard, putting a body in front of them and then going to get the ball.”

Complementing Harris’ play inside was the outside shooting of Jossy James and sophomore Brenley Johnson, who each hit three 3s and made the most of their opportunities from deep.

“Nia really helped us out getting in there and crashing the boards and getting all those layups, because it almost forced them to pack in, and then we got all those open looks on the outside,” Jossy James said.

Defense also played a big part in the Warriors’ victory. They nabbed 16 steals, forced 23 turnovers and outscored Geneseo 11-4 on points off turnovers and 10-2 in second-chance points.

The Leafs struggled to get in rhythm on offense, never making more than four field goals in any quarter and shooting just 30% (13 of 43) from the field while making only one of their 10 3-point tries.

“That’s our goal every game, to cause chaos,” Jossy James said. “Sometimes we slip up and get in foul trouble, but it’s all part of the process.”

“That’s a team that was in overtime in the supersectional last year, and they have pieces back that were on the floor in a big-time game last year. They’re the defending [conference] champions, they’ve got a ton of experience – and we play one senior,” Geneseo coach Scott Hardison said. “We’re young, we know that, and I thought we got better today at catching the ball and taking it to the rim at times, and that’s what we’re working on is trying to do more of the basketball things at the varsity level, in terms of speed and physicality.”

Sterling went on a 22-9 run over the final 5:40 of the first quarter and led 26-12 after one period, pushed the margin to 39-21 by halftime, then opened the third quarter with a 15-2 run over the first 5:04 to take its largest lead at 54-23.

Jossy James had six rebounds, five steals and three assists; Brenley Johnson scored nine points; Alivia Gibson added seven points, seven rebounds, two steals and two blocks; and Jae James chipped in six points, five assists and three rebounds for the Warriors. They went with an all-senior starting lineup and continued to work them in throughout the game.

“We were super excited for them,” Harris said. “We see them in practice, we know they’re capable of doing everything that the starters do, so it was just an exciting moment for them.”

Brooklyn Ruby led Geneseo with 12 points to go with four rebounds, and Bella Brown had eight points, six rebounds and two steals. Viola Pettit (two assists) and Ava DeSplinter (two steals) each scored five points, and Lizzie Rapps added three points, five rebounds and four steals.

“We can get better, and it’s the same thing when we were here last year. We will continue to get better as the season goes on,” Hardison said. “We’re much better now than last week, and we’ll continue to fight, but this conference is a gauntlet. There’s no rest for the weary, you’ve got to keep going.”