ONONDAGA COUNTY – Nearly 12 months had passed since the Cicero-North Syracuse girls basketball team battled past Baldwinsville to reclaim the Section III Class AA championship.
In this abbreviated follow-up of a 2021 season, the Northstars and Bees were both undefeated as they faced each other for the only time Tuesday night at Baker High School gym.
And for most of the game, these two sides would trade runs and swap the lead until a fourth quarter where C-NS, excelling in all phases of the game, once again got the best of B’ville, prevailing 65-54.
Returning most of its starting lineup from 2019-20, the Bees would lean on one of those veterans, Sydney Huhtala, to help her side keep pace with the Northstars in the first half.
Largely on the basis of a trio of 3-pointers, Huhtala earned most of her 23 points in those first two periods, constantly answering whenever C-NS turned to its most reliable scoring threat, Jessica Cook.
Thus, despite Cook’s 13 points, the Northstars three times saw narrow second-quarter leads disappear and the two sides went to halftime tied, 30-30.
B’ville opened the second half on 10-4 run to earn its biggest lead, but C-NS turned it around and they were even again, 44-44, by the time the third quarter ended.
Here, the Northstars cranked up its half-court defense, forcing poor B’ville shots along with a rash of turnovers while, on the other end, Alexa Kulakowski and Kathleen Taru both hit a pair of 3-pointers.
From the time it trailed 40-34, C-NS outscored the Bees 27-8, balancing between Cook, who finished with 22 points, and the backcourt as Kulakowski got 18 points, Taru 10 points and Alita Carey-Santangelo seven points. For B’ville, Hannah Mimas got 12 points and Ola Bednarczyk had 10 points.
Now C-NS could look ahead to a rematch Friday against Nottingham, whom it beat 69-60 on Feb. 17 in a game where the Bulldogs’ Amaya Williams had piled up 39 points.
Not wanting that to happen again, C-NS leaned even more on Cook and the result was a 76-61 victory where Cook converted on 17 field goals and four free throws to account for 38 points overall.
Enough support came from Kulakowski (10 points), Carey-Santangelo (eight points) and Francesca Tortora (nine points) that C-NS could absorb Williams’ seven 3-pointers and 32 points overall and still get a comfortable win.
Eariler that same week, Liverpool took its own measure against Nottingham and played on even terms most of the way except for the third quarter, where Williams and the Bulldogs did its prime damage and handed the Warriors a 60-51 loss.
Most of the first half went back and forth, Liverpool staying within a basket and only trailing by one, 28-27, before Nottingham took command with a 20-9 push through that third period.
Naveah Wingate set a new season mark with 23 points, with Victoria Morgan adding 13 points and Alyssa DiMillo getting six points, but Williams got 30 points, four assists and five steals for the Bulldogs, helped by Nazjae Howard’s 14 rebounds and Zyhona Glen’s 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Rebounding from this, Liverpool hosted Fayetteville-Manlius Wednesday and, rallying late, beat the Hornets 49-44.
The Warriors got held to three points in the first quarter, yet didn’t let F-M get away, eventually catching up and taking the lead in the fourth quarter.
To overcome 25 points by the Hornets’ Lexie Roe, Liverpool needed scoring balance, and got it. Wingate had 13 points and Morgan got 10 points, with Sophie Saeger adding eight points and Karlyssa Shifflett notching seven points.
Then the Warriors made it back-to-back wins by topping Jamesville-DeWitt 57-48 on Friday, using a 17-8 second-quarter push to surge into the lead and never letting the Red Rams respond.
Liverpool again spread things around, Morgan getting 15 points and Wingate earning 14 points as Shifflett improved to 12 points. Sarah Miles chimed in with eight points. That negated the 22 points put up by J-D senior Momo LaClair.
