All kinds of challengers have lined up in recent years, trying to knock the Cicero-North Syracuse girls basketball team from its deeply rooted home atop the Section III Class AA heap, and the Northstars have turned them all back.
One of those frustrated challengers is Baldwinsville, a high-quality opponent who, with a 4-0 record, hosted C-NS last Tuesday night at the Baker High School gym, but once again found the task too difficult to manage as the Northstars routed them 69-35.
Sharp from the outset, C-NS started the game with 10 straight points before B’ville got on the board. Then, for the rest of the night, the Bees only managed occasional spurts against a swarming Northstars defense that forced lots of turnovers.
It was 19-5 at the end of the first quarter and 37-16 by halftime, C-NS not letting up until it had hurt B’ville with both its inside game, led by Amani Free, and with its perimeter play from McKayla Roberts and Samantha Tortora.
Free, Roberts and Tortora each finished with 16 points, with Free earning 13 of those points in the decisive first half and Roberts contributing some deft passes to augment that point total. B’ville’sRiley Carlucci, who battled with Free all night in the paint, led her side with 10 points, adding five rebounds. Emily Pascale had seven points, six rebounds, three steals and two assists.
C-NS takes on Auburn and West Genesee this week –the first of them someone that Liverpool has already faced, with positive results.
The Warriors, who had started 0-2, earned its first win of the season last Tuesday night against visiting Auburn, getting everyone involved in a 72-55 victory over the Maroons.
It didn’t start well, with Auburn sneaking into a 12-9 first-quarter lead. But the Warriors took over from there, outscoring the Maroons 45-21 over the course of the next two periods to build a lead the visitors could not overcome.
What made it sweeter was seeing every single player on the 11-girl roster earn at least one field goal. It was balanced at the top, too, with Drew Dufrane and Lexi Emmi earning 14 points apiece, Dufrane converting a trio of 3-pointers, just ahead of Holy Sleeth, who put up a career-best 13 points as Jenna Wike added nine points.
A week of rest and practice would follow for Liverpool before games against city foes Corcoran and Nottingham this week and games on back-to-back games on Dec. 22 and 23 against Fayeteville-Manlius and Marcellus, respectively.
