SYRACUSE – Maybe, all along, it was meant for the growing girls basketball rivalry between Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool to have, perhaps, its most important chapter on the biggest stage in Section III sports.
Next Saturday night at SRC Arena, the Northstars will attempt to keep the sectional Class AA championship away from a Warriors side that beat C-NS twice in the regular season.
Even getting this far was eventful enough, since both of these sides had to make it through memorable semifinals Saturday afternoon at Onondaga Community College’s Allyn Hall.
For no. 4 seed C-NS, it required weathering the incredible 48-point performance put up by Leah Middleton of top-seeded Auburn and still defeating the Maroons 67-61 in overtime.
And Liverpool, the no. 3 seed, took out no. 2 seed Rome Free Academy 67-51 largely on the strength of a lengthy stretch of the first half where it played as well in every phase of the game as it has all season.
The Northstars’ experience against Auburn was a perfect example of how a collective effort can overcome the sheer dominance of an individual – though it still required a small amount of timely good fortune.
Middleton, a senior bound for Le Moyne College, had already secured 40 points by late in the fourth quarter, but C-NS till held a 55-51 advantage.
Then Middleton hit two free throws with 1:06 to play and, on consecutive possessions, the Northstars turned it over, giving the Maroons another chance.
Naturally, the ball went to Middleton, who drove from the right and missed – but grabbed her own rebound and, falling back, hit a shot and was fouled with 3.0 seconds left.
The game was tied, 55-55, and if Middleton made the free throw, C-NS would trail – but she missed, the Northstars snagged the rebound and the game went to OT.
Again the Northstars went in front, but didn’t take full control until, with 42 seconds left in the OT, Brianna Weaver, from the right corner, drilled a 3-pointer to make it 64-59, a blow from which Auburn could not recover.
All game long, Weaver’s outside shooting hurt the Maroons, as she finished with five 3-pointers and a career-best 21 points.
Unlike the Maroons, C-NS was able to spread its production around. Kat McRobbie had 16 points, with Jilly Howell getting 13 points and Maddie Howell adding 12 points, all of it allowing the Northstars to stay with Middleton’s torrid pace – and ultimately surpass it.
The irony of this was that Liverpool had its own tremendous individual performance from senior Neveah Wingate against RFA, only it came in the context of a larger effort by the Warriors that sank the Black Knights’ hopes.
It all traced back to when the Black Knights’ leading scorer, Amya McLeod, picked up her second foul less than five minutes into the game. At that point, RFA led 15-14, the contest closely resembling the OT battle the two sides had in December when McLeod put up 37 points.
Sensing an opportunity, the Warriors cranked up its pressure, forced a steady stream of Black Knights turnovers and turned them into a flood of baskets, most of them by Wingate, whose 24 first-half points topped the entire RFA roster.
Wingate wasn’t alone, though, as everyone in a Liverpool uniform swarmed whoever had the ball for the Black Knights, creating easy scoring opportunities on the other end.
This continued through the entire second quarter until Liverpool had put together a 32-7 run, led 46-22 at the half and breezed from there.
Gianna Washington had one of her best outings, pouring in 15 points as Kaylyn Sweeney and A’briyah Cunningham had nine points apiece. McLeod did get 29 points, but most of them came in the second half with the game well out of reach.
Now Liverpool hopes to repeat the 70-63 and 55-37 wins it earned over C-NS earlier this winter and, by doing so, claim its first sectional title since 2008.
