All of the fun the Liverpool girls basketball team was having in 2015-16 could not get spoiled by any one event or any opponent – even one as massively imposing as Cicero-North Syracuse.
When those two sides met last Wednesday night to make up their snowed-out Jan. 13 game, the Northstars, who have climbed to no. 2 in the latest state Class AA rankings, again proved too much for the Warriors to keep up with – at least in the first half, anyway.
But the 58-41 win that C-NS eventually achieved was far different than the first meeting between the two. Back on Dec. 4, the Northstars blew out Liverpool, 79-34, but at that time the Warriors didn’t have Jenna Wike or Kyra Grimshaw in the lineup.
Both were there now, and yet Liverpool still had difficulty solving C-NS’s vaunted defense in the early going. The Northstars, idle for 12 days since it pounded Fayetteville-Manlius 77-34 on Jan. 8, held the Warriors to just four points in the first quarter, and steady production on the other end meant a comfortable margin.
Up 31-14 at halftime, C-NS decided matters by outscoring Liverpool 22-12 in the third quarter, but the Warriors wouldn’t let the game get that far out of hand, closing strong as Grimshaw, who had nine rebounds, and Wike each had eight points and Drew Dufrane produced a team-best 10 points.
On the Northstars’ side, McKayla Roberts was solid again, earning 17 points, with Beth Bonin adding 11 points. Samantha Tortora and Mary Kate Bonnani each had seven points, with Amani Free and Jada Kims getting six points apiece.
C-NS went from there to smashing Auburn 64-30 on Friday night, methodically employing its defensive pressure by holding the Maroons to 12 first-half points and spreading its production around, too, as nine different players earned at least one basket.
Free, who struggled against Liverpool, rebounded here with a team-high 17 points, while Roberts got most of her 13 points from three 3-pointers. Bonin finished with 11 points as Stefanie Gera paced Auburn with 11 points.
As for Liverpool, it would go to Nottingham that same night and clinch a winning regular-season record, prevailing 57-28 with its own superlative defense that, at its peak, limited the Bulldogs to just a single free throw in the second quarter.
Up 32-7 at the half, the Warriors didn’t add much to that margin in the last two periods, but didn’t need to, either. Senior Kaleigh Young broke out with 14 points, while Dufrane hit a trio of 3-pointers and finished with 13 points. Wike and Lexi Emmi had seven points apiece as Trisha Lane produced six points.
Liverpool (10-6) has just three games left in the regular season, one of them Friday’s visit to Corcoran as C-NS, following games against Baldwinsville and Henninger, makes a visit to New York City to take on Mary Louis Academy on Sunday afternoon.
