Having worked so hard to fight back near the .500 mark, the Liverpool girls basketball team did not want to squander that advantage too quickly.
But the Warriors struggled in last Monday’s home game against Nottingham, unable to generate any offense in the crucial stages of a 43-28 loss to the Bulldogs.
Nottingham was 3-4 entering the game, but those losses had come to high-quality opponents like Jamesville-DeWitt and Utica-Notre Dame, and from them, the Bulldogs learned that it could defend well.
Liverpool felt that pressure from the opening tip, never managing more than six points in any of the first three periods. Nottingham used that extensive time to craft a 37-16 edge, more than the Warriors could overcome, even with a belated surge.
Rachael Windhausen led Liverpool again, earning 11 points, with Emma Lamison close behind as she got nine points. Only Windhausen, Lamison and Katie Dalton (five points) were able to earn field goals as Nottingham, led by Chayanna Canada (11 points), had seven different players convert baskets.
It wouldn’t get any easier Friday night, as Liverpool visited Class AA title contender West Genesee. Still, the Warriors carried a lead into the second half, only to see it slip away again as it fell to the Wildcats 48-39.
Windhausen, getting most of her 16 points in the first half, helped Liverpool break out of an 8-8 tie and, with a series of baskets, seize a 23-20 lead going into the break.
Here, though, WG picked up its pressure, converted the Warriors’ turnovers into baskets, and went on a 19-9 run, led by Melissa Fumano, who managed 16 points and eight rebounds, and Vicki Graveline, who added 15 points.
Though five other Liverpool players (Dalton, Nicole Carey, Natalie Parkins, Drew Dufrane and Megan Stonebarger) had two field goals apiece, none of them finished with more than five points. The Warriors are back home Tuesday to take on Baldwinsville.
