Having flown to a 4-0 start, the Liverpool girls basketball team takes plenty of momentum to Binghamton for next weekend’s Pete Hyde Memorial Classic. And of those four wins, none were as impressive as its game against visiting Baldwinsville Friday night.
Against the 4-1 Bees, the Warriors used strong defense to control the first half, and then relied on a three-pronged attack to pull away and prevail by a score of 52-37.
Coming off its first loss of the season (62-38 to reigning champion Cicero-North Syracuse on Dec. 18), B’viille, at 4-1, found Liverpool to be just as stingy and difficult to solve.
The Warriors’ relentless pressure led to a cold first half for the Bees. Liverpool had its own offensive struggles, but it still built up a 22-13 margin as they went to halftime.
Though the Bees did pick up its pace in the third quarter, Liverpool still put them away with a 23-11 effort in those eight minutes, and cruised the rest of the way.
Rachael Windhausen continues to put up impressive numbers each night, as Windhausen finished with 18 points and 16 rebounds. But the Bees could not collapse on Windhausen, because Drew Dufrane was earning a career-best 16 points, adding five rebounds, four assists and two steals.
Nicole Carey, with 10 points, also reached double figures, while Emma Geyer managed six points. No one on B’ville could match Windhausen or Dufrane, though Rachael Miller finished with 13 points, six rebounds and seven blocks. Emily Pascale, held to four points against C-NS, did a bit better here with eight points, five rebounds and four assists.
For Liverpool’s boys basketball team, a trip to Baldwinsville brought a chance to halt a two-game skid – and led by Caleb Taylor, the Warriors proved quite successful, pulling away for an 84-64 victory over the Bees.
No matter what took place, it was a time to celebrate, because B’ville was officially honoring the baseball team that won its first-ever state Class AA championship last June in Binghamton.
Most of the baseball players were in attendance (a few had to play hockey that night), and they got to see a championship banner revealed in the Baker High School gymnasium, and also picked up state championship rings purchased through funds raised by the program’s booster club.
B’ville, of course, would have liked to win the basketball game, too – but the Warriors were in no mood for generosity.
Off back-to-back losses to top Class AA contenders Fayetteville-Manlius and Henninger, Liverpool got into trouble here, too, as the inspired Bees played at a feverish pace and made everything as it raced to a 25-16 lead.
But the Warriors turned it around, getting its own 25-16 push through the second period to tie it, 41-41, at the break. Then, after the baseball players got their moment of glory, B’ville promptly got stomped as Liverpool outscored them 21-9 in a decisive third quarter.
Battling to the end, the Bees saw Ben DiOrio get 17 points, plus six assists and five steals. Nick Alley had 14 points, while Devyn McLeod had 12 points and five rebounds.
But every B’ville number paled next to those of Taylor, who poured in a season-best 30 points to make up for the fact that none of the other Liverpool players scored in double figures. However, the Warriors made up for it by having 14 different players score at least one point, including Tyler Sullivan, who managed nine points as Justin Capoto and Matt Hunter had six points apiece.
While the girls Warriors play in Binghamton, the Liverpool boys will have its first home game of the season on Saturday, against Vestal (Section IV), after which it rests before a Jan. 7 rematch with Henninger.
