Though it dare not look ahead, the Baldwinsville girls basketball team’s marvelous regular season continues to build toward a climactic Feb. 6 showdown with Cicero-North Syracuse.
The Bees continue to bring a strong effort each night, as it did in Thursday night’s trip to Auburn, where it gradually got away from the Maroons and, by a 60-44 margin, completed a regular-season sweep and improved to 13-1 overall.
These two sides had first played Dec. 11 at the Baker High School Gym, with B’ville prevailing 51-35. Somehow, the rematch ended with the same winning margin, only with more points on the board.
From the outset, the game had a quick pace, but that suited B’ville better. It took a modest 17-15 first-quarter lead and expanded it through a defense that settled down and held Auburn to eight points the rest of the half.
As the second half wore on, that lead kept growing, with Rachael Miller not only grabbing 16 rebounds and adding seven blocks, but also putting up a team-high 19 points against Auburn forward Shaelynn Freeman, who still had 15 points and 12 rebounds.
Emily Pascale and her Maroons counterpart, Anna Giannone, each had 14 points, with Pascale adding six assists and Giannone five assists, essentially rendering that duel a stalemate.
The difference came from Hope DeFazio, who poured in 15 points, including a trio of 3-pointers, to give B’ville a second option on the perimeter. Katie Walsh, with 10 rebounds, and Riley Carlucci, with eight rebounds, did well on the boards, too.
After a week to rest, the Bees return home next Thursday for another encounter with the Central Square team it beat in a 48-44 classic on Jan. 13, the Redhawks having just survived a triple-overtime epic with Liverpool the same night that B’ville beat Auburn.
