Sometimes, the result of the game is the least important part.
As expected, the Cicero-North Syracuse girls basketball team roared past visiting Fayetteville-Manlius 65-28 last Tuesday night, but the contest was secondary to the occasion.
Emilee Norris, the lone senior on the C-NS squad, had organized, through a class project, a “Paint the Gym Pink” event, raising awareness for breast cancer.
From ticket sales and concessions to T-shirts worn by both teams and by the cheerleaders, all of the night’s proceeds went to benefit the Kay Yow Cancer Fund, named in honor of the late North Carolina State women’s basketball coach , a member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, who passed away from breast cancer in 2009.
C-NS, donning gray jerseys with pink numbers, ran away from F-M (who wore white jerseys and pink numbers) in the first half, building up a 39-12 margin. And Norris was a focal point, eventually scoring 14 points to tie McKayla Roberts as the team’s leading scorers.
Beth Bonin finished with eight points, while Mackenzie O’Hara contributed seven points. F-M’s D’Jhai Patterson-Ricks led her side with 12 points.
Quickly, the Northstars have risen back up the state Class AA rankings, claiming the no. 4 spot after its tough 49-44 win over Horseheads on Jan. 31 at SRC Arena.
And C-NS would roll again Friday night, at Corcoran, starting quickly and then gradually getting away from the Cougars for a 56-33 victory.
By the end of the first quarter, the Northstars were up 20-8. From there, it cooled off until the third period, where a 17-9 push helped erase the Cougars’ notions of an upset.
Corcoran concentrated its defense in the paint – and paid for it, Bonin hitting on five 3-pointers to account for most of her 17 points. Samantha Tortora chimed in with 12 points, while Amani Free poured in nine points and Roberts contributed seven points.
All of this leads to the biggest game of C-NS’s regular season, as it will host Baldwinsville Friday night. The Bees are 14-1 and, having not won a sectional title since 1995, knows that ending that two-decade drought requires getting past the Northstars at some point.
As this went on, the C-NS boys basketball team found itself hosting Corcoran and led going into the fourth quarter, but again things went wrong in a 70-65 defeat to the Cougars.
Throughout a closely played first half, C-NS would make scoring runs, and Corcoran would answer, leaving the two sides tied 36-36 going into the break.
A solid third quarter left the Northstars up, 52-49, with one period left, but the Cougars, led by Marquis Gilbert and his 26 points, fought back in front and stayed there down the stretch.
In doing so, Corcoran overcame big games from A.J. Nesci, who had 26 points, and Brendan Gacek, who got 22 points and 10 rebounds. Jon Petrin added six points, eight rebounds and four blocks. Nick Antonello got six rebounds, but managed just a single field goal.
Both teams have two games this week, with rival Liverpool on the docket Tuesday before the girls have its critical game on Friday against visiting Baldwinsville, with the top seed in the Section III Class AA playoffs, and a league title, at stake.
