ONONDAGA COUNTY – If there was any mystery of what it would require for the Baldwinsville girls basketball team to get to the top of the area Class AAA ranks, Liverpool solved it for them.
In a dominant performance last Tuesday night at LHS Gymnasium, the state no. 7-ranked Warriors completely stifled the Bees in the game’s pivotal early stages on the way to prevailing by a score of 57-34.
Thanks to its 9-2 record, B’ville had moved to no. 17 in last week’s state Class AAA rankings, but it had not faced anyone with the combination of skill, experience and energy that Liverpool showed them.
All through the first quarter, whenever the Bees crossed midcourt, the Warriors picked up pressure. It led to a long series of turnovers and rushed shots as B’ville did not manage a single field goal in the first quarter.
Turning those mistakes into points, Liverpool jumped out 13-0 and never got caught. B’ville ultimately produced just two field goals the entire first half , which it corrected in the game’s latter stages, though long after it was decided.
Most of Madison Polky’s 12 points came in the second half, as did nine points from Olivia Davis and eight points from Maddie Simons, but they all trailed Liverpool standout A’briyah Cunningham, who led her side with 18 points.
Back home Friday night to face Auburn, the Bees showed how quickly it could recover and reclaim its top form, its hot outside shooting humbling the Maroons as it prevailed by a score of 70-52.
With its 23 first-quarter points, B’ville topped what it did for three quarters at Liverpool, but it had to keep going since Auburn mostly kept up for a while, led by Peyton Maneri (17 points) and Alyssa Hogle (14 points).
Despite their work, the Bees were up 41-32 at halftime and did a solid job of containment the rest of the way as, on the other end, Polky was pouring in 24 points, including four 3-pointers.
Natalie Hollingshead also had four 3-pointers on her way to 14 points, with Davis converting three times beyond the arc to get to 13 points as Sierra Natoli got seven points, with Simons and Brianne Dzuba each getting six points.
Now the Bees will have four consecutive road games, starting Tuesday at Jamesville-DeWitt and continuing Friday at Nottingham before going to Cicero-North Syracuse and Henninger next week.
