This one was for Lexi.
What the Liverpool girls basketball team accomplished in Tuesday night’s 42-35 road victory at Fayetteville-Manlius was far more than just improve to 3-2 on the season. It also honored the memory of junior guard Lexi Tulowecki’s mother, who passed away a day earlier.
Head coach Matt Brazill said that Tulowecki was informed of her mother’s death during practice on Monday. The practice was stopped, and the players spent the rest of the session talking and giving each other support, vowing to win for their teammate.
And then, one night later, Tulowecki was back in uniform. F-M was hosting its annual “Pink Out” game to benefit the More Than A Game Foundation and Golisano Children’s Hospital, and Liverpool donated $250 to the cause.
This game followed the pattern of the Warriors’ 41-40 win over Utica-Notre Dame in the Dec. 13 consolation round of the Norwich Tournament, in that it stayed close most of the way. The difference here was that F-M, unlike the Jugglers, led most of the way.
But the Warriors’ deficit never reached more than five points at any time. That came when Amara Pulver hit a lay-up midway through the third quarter, putting the Hornets up 25-20.
Following that, the Warriors’ defense took charge, holding F-M without a field goal for more than nine minutes. Constant pressure, plus superior depth, helped Liverpool wear the Hornets down, while Jenna Wike again seized the initiative on the offensive end.
Wike, whose last-second basket and steal beat Utica-Notre Dame, put her team ahead for good with a 3-pointer in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter, breaking a 27-27 tie and igniting a 9-2 run. Then, after F-M closed the gap to 36-31, Wike hit on back-to-back baskets that stretched out the margin.
All told, Wike scored nine of her 16 points in the final period, while Drew Dufrane had all of her nine points from three 3-pointers and Ashleigh Young added six points. F-M’s D’Jhai Patterson-Ricks led her side with 15 points before fouling out in the final minute.
By far, though, the best moment came in the final seconds. Having watched her team gain a big win in her mother’s memory, Tulowecki entered the game, to a standing ovation from her teammates. For a moment, a sweet memory on the court made things a little bit easier.
A day later, Liverpool kept up the good news, donating more than $1,000 in toys to underprivileged children in the school district through their “Give Back Night” promotion. The donations were made despite the fact that the event where toys would be collected, the Warriors’ Dec. 10 game against Cicero-North Syracuse, was snowed out.
