A pair of defeats on consecutive Friday nights – that of the lopsided variety to West Genesee, and that of the one-point variety to Fayetteville-Manlius – had sent the Baldwinsville girls basketball team to a mid-season crossroads.
To get back on the right road, the Bees simply needed to win games – which it resumed doing in an emphatic manner last Tuesday night at Cicero-North Syracuse, where the trio of Kaylee Lammers, Carolyn Brussel and Jenna Costello did most of the heavy work in a 69-47 victory over the Northstars.
Only up by two, 9-7, going into the second quarter, B’ville managed to outscore C-NS 22-10 the rest of the half. Once with that double-digit lead, the Bees turned to its defense, which was so effective that no Northstars player had more than the six points put up by Morgan Siechen, Julianna Vassallo and Jessica Cook.
Meanwhile, Lammers was putting up a game-high 19 points and adding six rebounds, while Brussel went back to her double-double ways by amassing 15 points and 13 rebounds. Costello did a bit of everything, matching Brussel’s 15 points while adding five rebounds, four steals and three assists.
B’ville also had strong defensive efforts from Katie Pascale, who had six steals to go with five assists, and Alena Criss, who picked up six assists. Claire McAllister contributed five points.
A bigger opportunity arrived on Friday as B’ville visited Liverpool, who had in its previous outing had halted Fayetteville-Manlius’ seven-game win streak, but who had lost to the Bees 63-46 late in December at Baker High School.
The rematch proved far closer, with the issue in doubt until the final seconds, but key plays in the final minute by Lammers allowed the Bees to prevail again over the Warriors, this time by a slim 51-50 margin.
Neither side would gain any real separation all night long. Though it held Liverpool to five points in the second quarter, B’ville only led 24-20 at halftime, a margin that Liverpool gradually erased during a closely-fought second half.
With a minute to play, Liverpool was up 50-49, and had the ball. Then Lammers anticipated a pass, stole it and converted a lay-up on the other end to give B’ville a one-point lead. Though the Warriors had a chance to regain the edge, Lammers ruined that plan with another clutch steal, her fourth of the night.
Of Lammers’ seven points, five came in the fourth quarter as she also got four assists and three steals. Costello led with 15 points and four rebounds, while Claire McAllister stepped up for 12 points and seven rebounds.
Brussel finished with nine rebounds to go with six points, while Pascale had seven points, five assists and three steals. On Liverpool’s side, Jenna Wike had a game-high 18 points and Kyra Grimshaw added 10 points.
So B’ville would take an 8-4 record into Tuesday night’s home game against Rome Free Academy, the first of three games in four night that included back-to-back tilts with Nottingham on Thursday and Henninger on Friday.
