Just one victory, on both sides, separates the Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool girls basketball teams from a possible Feb. 28 showdown for the Section III Class AA championship at SRC Arena.
They both have reached the semifinal round this Sunday night, with the top-seeded, undefeated Northstars facing no. 4 seed Utica Proctor and the no. 7 seed Warriors facing no. 6 seed Weed Genesee.
Liverpool’s unlikely post-season push started with Wednesday night’s Class AA quarterfinal, where the Warriors went to no. 3 seed Baldwinsville and, for the second time in as many months, surged late to beat the Bees, this time by a 69-59 margin.
They had split their regular-season games, B’ville winning early in December, but Liverpool countering a month later with the presence of two key players (Jenna Wike and Kyra Grimshaw) who weren’t in the lineup for that first meeting due to injury.
Now the Bees and Warriors would battle through a close, fast-paced first half. Liverpool led, 16-11, through one period, but led by Emily Pascale, who scored nine of her 17 points in the second quarter, B’ville surged in front, 29-25.
Grimshaw turned the game around, though netting eight points, including the last four of the half, to put the Warriors ahead for good, 31-29, by halftime. Energized by that surge, Liverpool led by as much as 11 in the third quarter before the Bees fought back and got within five, 46-41, early in the final period.
Then it was Wike’s turn. Having scored 12 fourth-quarter points to rally her team past B’ville 54-48 in their last encounter, Wike again saved her best work for the homestretch, including a 3-pointer that sparked a pivotal 12-2 run.
That helped stretch Liverpool’s margin to 58-43, and even when the Bees, thanks to a barrage of 3-pointers, got back within seven, 66-59, Wike’s pair of free throws helped seal it. Of Wike’s 23 points, 11 of them came in the final period as Grimshaw (17 points), Drew Dufrane (14 points) and Trisha Lane (10 points) also hit double figures.
Pascale augmented her 17 points with six rebounds and three assists, while Riley Carlucci gained 15 points, seven rebounds and three assists. Carolyn Brussel put together 10 points, seven rebounds and six assists as Kaylee Lammers also had 10 points.
As that went on, C-NS, as the top seed, entered the post-season fray and made it 21 wins in a row with a business-like effort against no. 8 seed Rome Free Academy, defeating the Black Knights by a score of 56-29.
When it charged out to a 17-7 first-quarter edge, it looked like just another one-sided romp for the Northstars, but then it relaxed the rest of the half and RFA, who lost last year’s sectional final to C-NS, stayed within sight and only trailed 29-18 at the break.
This didn’t sit well with the Northstars, who promptly went on a 19-4 push through the third quarter to put RFA away. Amani Free, with 18 points, did the most damage as Beth Bonin and McKayla Roberts, in their last games on C-NS’s home court, each hit double figures, too – Bonin with 11 points, Roberts with 10 points.
