A week before Christmas, the Cicero-North Syracuse girls basketball team left the arctic chill of Central New York and arrived in Arizona, with plenty of work ahead of them.

Over the course of four days, From Dec. 18 to 21, the Northstars would play four games in the Nike Tournament of Champions against a cross-section of strong opponents, mostly from the western United States.

All of it began last Wednesday when C-NS taking on West Linn, from Oregon. It proved a close, low-scoring affair, but the Northstars were able to defeat the Lions 40-38.

Slow at the outset, C-NS trailed 14-5 after one quarter and were still down 29-15 at halftime before a big third period where, with a 16-4 run, it made up most of the deficit. Then the Northstars’ defense held West Linn to five points in the fourth quarter to pull it out.

Jessica Cook had 12 points, with Mackenzie White getting nine points. Alita Carey-Santangelo had eight points and Julia Rowe got seven points.

It was close again when C-NS battled Clovis North, from Fresno, California, on Thursday, but this time the Northstars could not pull it out, falling 56-55 to the Broncos.

A rough second quarter had C-NS trailing 32-20 at halftime, and while it fought back late, it could not quite catch Clovis North. In defeat, Cook had a season-best 26 points, with Rowe contributing 14 points.

Bishop O’Dowd, from San Francisco, was the Northstars’ opponent on Friday afternoon, and against the Dragons C-NS would again find it difficult to gear up its offense in a 51-33 loss.

O’Dowd took charge when it outscored the Northstars 19-9 in the second quarter. A quiet final period prevented any comeback as Cook had 13 points, with Rowe getting eight points. White and Carey-Santangelo had six points apiece.

The tournament ended Saturday with C-NS falling to Fremont (California) 69-32. Other than Cook’s 13 points and eight points from Carey-Santangelo, the Northstars only had four total field goals.

While all this was going on, Liverpool was trying to build on the momentum gained by its come-from-behind, 49-44 win over reigning three-time sectional Class AA champion West Genesee on Dec. 17.

Even with serious graduation losses, including Mackenzie and Madison Smith, the Wildcats are still reigning three-time sectional champions and brought a 5-1 record into that game.

Liverpool did not look, at first, like it would turn things around, its offense quiet throughout the first half as WG built a 28-16 advantage. But then the Warriors’ defense began to wear the Wildcats down, and baskets started to fall on the other end in a third period where Liverpool made up a lot of ground.

Then it really took over late, outscoring WG 20-10 in the final eight minutes with a combination of clutch baskets and solid free-throw shooting. Victoria Morgan led the way, earning 16 points, while Neveah Wingate earned 12 points. Melania Nappa finished with eight points and Sarah Miles gained seven points.

Just two nights later, the Warriors met Fayetteville-Manlius, and the Hornets halted that momentum, prevailing 53-43 in a game played on relatively even terms, except for the first quarter.

F-M started out 15-5 and never let Liverpool catch them thanks to Lexie Roe pouring in 26 points and Lily Fish adding 12 points. On the Warriors’ side, Morgan remained in good form, earning 18 points, with Wingate adding 11 points as Nappa had six points.