For all the work it had to do just to get into the Section III Class AA playoffs, and then win an opening-round game over Corcoran, the Liverpool girls basketball team’s “reward” was nothing less than a short trip to its neighbors from Cicero-North Syracuse in Friday night’s Section III Class AA quarterfinal, as the top-seeded Northstars would begin its quest for a sixth straight sectional title and, it hopes, a lot more.
If Liverpool was hoping that C-NS, who have risen to no. 3 in the latest state Class AA rankings, might take the contest lightly and worry about bigger challenges ahead, that quickly got dashed, and the Northstars played a strong first half on both sides of the ball, cruising to a 68-31 victory over the Warriors.
The last time these two teams had played Feb. 3, C-NS gave up that same amount of points and won 74-31. For a while, it looked like Liverpool would not even get to that mark, only managing two points in the first quarter in the face of the Northstars’ pressure.
Though the Warriors’ production picked up a bit in the second quarter, it still trailed 31-9 at the half, and saw C-NS pull further away, Liverpool unable to get anyone to score in double figures as Wike, with nine points, got closest to that mark.
For the Northstars, Samantha Tortora led the way, with 15 points. All of Beth Bonin’s 12 points came from four 3-pointers, while Emilee Norris added 10 points and Amani Free nine points.
In this Saturday’s Class AA semifinal at Onondaga Community College’s SRC Arena, C-NS will face no. 4 seed Utica Proctor, with the winner returning to that same court a week later to play in the sectional final against Rome Free Academy or Baldwinsville.
