Two games against local rivals and fellow Section III Class AA title contenders would give the Baldiwnsville girls basketball team a good indication of where it stood as the post-season loomed.
In the first of these showdowns, the Bees hosted Cicero-North Syracuse on Senior Night, and despite all kinds of potential advantages, it could not topple the Northstars, who prevailed 73-56.
It was Senior Night for five B’ville players – Carolyn Brussel, Claire McAllister, Jenna Costello, Meaghan Wilson and Sydney Tse. A large crowd gathered to honor them, with appearances by B’ville’s famed Pep Band and students from McNamara Elementary School who sang the national anthem.
As if all that wasn’t enough, C-NS, who beat the Bees 58-43 on Jan. 9 appeared, at least on the surface, to be vulnerable. The Northsrtars were without ailing point guard Morgan Siechen and saw its top forward, Jessica Cook, go to the bench with three fouls early in the second quarter.
Without Cook to protect the paint, B’ville erased C-NS’s 20-10 lead with a 13-2 run. Even though the Northstars recovered to go back in front 30-28 by halftime, the Bees had a reason to feel confident.
But then the third quarter got underway, and in the first 90 seconds Cook hit on back-to-back baskets and also grabbed a rebound to set up a 3-pointer from Mackenzie White, who had replaced Siechen in the starting lineup.
It didn’t stop there, as C-NS eventually produced a 21-3 run, most of it from Cook and Julianna Vassallo, who had six consecutive points on her way to 14 points overall.
What made that spurt so impressive was that just one of the baskets came from Quinnipiac College-boudn senior Amani Free. She finished with 20 points, but just five in the second half as B’ville concentrated its defense on stopping her, but it backfired.
Held to a single free throw in her limited early minutes, Cook poured in 16 points after intermission, establishing her inside presence and deftly handling the ball for easy scoring opportunities.
Costello led B’ville with 18 points, all from six 3-pointers as Brussel had 10 points and Katie Pascale added nine points.Alena Criss had a team-best five rebounds to go with seven points.
Now B’ville had to turn around and, on Friday, face a Liverpool side it beat 58-44 a month earlier. But in a stunning turnaround, the Bees went ice-cold and got beat up by the Warriors in a 56-33 decision.
Criss had 11 points, but no other B’ville player had more than the six points put up by Brussel. Meanwhile, Jenna Wike, with 18 points, became the all-time leading scorer in Liverpool girls basketball history as she and Kyra Grimshaw (16 points) combined to outscore the Bees by themselves.
In order to break the slump, B’ville would need to prevail Saturday at Fayetteville-Manlius in a game made up from a Feb. 2 weather postponement.
But the Hornets, who lost 67-29 to West Genesee the night before, rebounded to top the Bees 51-42 and complete a regular-season sweep, establishing a 27-19 lead by halftime and preventing any kind of comeback in the last two periods.
Again, Costello set the pace for B’ville, earning 11 points, while Brussel and Pascale had nine points apiece. McAllister had seven points and Criss six points as, for F-M, Lexie Roe led with 14 points and Alexis Schneider added 13 points.
All of this tumbled the Bees’ record to 12-7, with still a game against West Genesee Monday before the start of the sectional playoffs.
