With the preliminaries, and most of its tournament schedule, now behind them, the Cicero-North Syracuse girls basketball team was set to accept all the challengers from the CNY Counties League.
And that included Liverpool, who hosted the Northstars last Saturday in the makeup of their snowed-out Dec. 10 game and could not keep up with the depth that C-NS displayed during a 68-29 victory.
Each side was playing for the second time in a 24-hour span. That didn’t seem to bother the Northstars, especially on the defensive side, as it put on the pressure and held Liverpool to handful of field goals while working its way to a 32-11 halftime lead.
Pulling further away, C-NS saw freshman Amani Free continue to progress, finishing with 19 points as Emilee Norris added 13 points and Mackenzie O’Hara put up a season-best 10 points. McKayla Roberts (nine points) and Samantha Tortora (seven points) added further depth as Ashley Jimenez gained six points.
On the Warriors’ side, Jenna Wike led with nine points, adding two rebounds and two assists. Bre Socker had seven points and three rebounds, with Danielle Akins adding five points and Laura Patulski five rebounds.
Back on Tuesday, C-NS took on a Central Square side that had roared out to a 6-1 start, but that didn’t mean much in the face of the Northstars, who flattened the Redhakws in a 68-22 rout.
All through the 40-12 first half, C-NS applied relentless pressure, especially on Central Square’s star guard, Schyler Laux, who had just six points for the night.
Then the Northstars pulled further away, led by Free, whose 19 points nearly matched the Redhawks by herself. Norris had 10 points, just ahead of Roberts and Tortora, who had eight points apiece. Beth Bonin, with seven points, and Mary Kate Bonani, with six points, added further depth.
Meanwhile, Liverpool lost, 62-34, to Baldwinsville, only trailing 26-18 at halftime before the Bees wore the Warriors down in the second half.
Wike and Drew Dufrane still had 11 points apiece, while Precious Sneed added six points. But B’ville countered with 21 points from Hope DeFazio and 14 points apiece from Emily Pascale and Rachael Miller, with Miller adding eight rebounds and 11 blocks as she nearly got a triple-double.
Then, a night before meeting Liverpool, C-NS went to Camillus and, while short-handed, got a scare from the Wildcats before pulling out a 42-28 victory.
Though the Wildcats, thanks to graduation losses, were far removed from the team that lost to the Northstars in last year’s Section III Class AA final at the Carrier Dome, C-NS didn’t take the task too lightly, especially since Roberts was not in the lineup.
Sensing that it had a chance, the Wildcats shook off a slow start and pulled within three, 21-18, by halftime. Try as it could, though, WG still had problems with the Northstars’ defense, only managing a handful of field goals in the second half as Bednarski led the team with just seven points.
Without a strong perimeter game (it didn’t make a 3-pointer all night), C-NS counted mostly on Free, who had 16 points, and Bonin, who added 15 points.
Liverpool, meanwhile, played at Nottingham, and lost to the Bulldogs 43-32. The Warriors led, 10-9, before the Bulldogs outscored them 16-7 in the second quarter, taking a lead that it would not relinquish.
Wike had seven points and seven rebounds, with Akins also getting seven points. Socker added six points, two assists and two steals. Nottingham saw Jaleya Bryant (12 points) and Kamille Davis (10 points) reach double figures.
