On the first Friday of January, the Liverpool girls basketball got a long-awaited win over the Cicero-North Syracuse side that dominated them, and everyone else, for much of the previous decade.
Now, on the first Friday of February, the Warriors sought a sweep of the Northstars, and attained it, finding the challenge just as tough the second time around, but still emerging with a 53-40 victory.
Their first encounter Jan. 4 at C-NS had gone 55-47 in Liverpool’s favor. Despite the improvements the young Northstars had made, it still lagged behind the Warriors, who would control things on both ends during a decisive first half.
Most of all, Liverpool’s defense came through as it limited C-NS to a handful of baskets. While that was going on, the trio of Jenna Wike, Breanna Socker and Kyra Grimshaw kept knocking down shots, and the Warriors roared to a 31-13 halftime edge.
Briefly, C-NS made it interesting as, led by Mackenzie White’s hot shooting, it nearly cut the deficit in half, to 40-30, by the end of the third quarter. But though White finished with 17 points, she didn’t have enough help, other than from Julianna Vassallo, who had nine points.
Meanwhile, Liverpool put it away as Wike and Socker both hit on three 3-pointers overall. Wike finished with 15 points, while Socker matched Grimshaw’s total of 13 points and Amanda Barnell chimed in with a pair of 3-pointers of her own, finishing with eight points.
They came into the game off vastly different results last Tuesday night, Liverpool handling Henninger 71-45 just as C-NS had to take on Fayetteville-Manlius and fall to the Hornets by a 47-28 margin.
At Henninger, Liverpool’s offense broke out in a very encouraging, and it went beyond the numbers, though the Warriors did sprint to a 40-20 halftime lead and maintained that pace the rest of the way to wear the Black Knights down.
Instead of depending too much on the likes of Jenna Wike (who had just five points), Liverpool found other sources of production, including Amanda Barnell, who poured in a season-best 17 points to go with five rebounds.
Kyra Grimshaw had a fine all-around game, earning 15 points, five rebounds and five assists, while Barnell hit three 3-pointers to account for her nine points, adding three rebounds. Holly Sleeth had seven points as Socker contributed six points.
Things didn’t work out as well for C-NS against F-M. Just as was the case for most of the season, the big problem C-NS faced against F-M was that its offense could not generate much production. In fact, over the course of the first three periods it got shut down as the Hornets built a 34-14 lead, too much to overcome.
Aniah Ingram, scoring 14 points, accounted for half the Northstars’ production. Brani Freeney added eight points. On F-M’s side, nine different players notched at least one field goal as Alexis Schneider led with 10 points.
Right after beating C-NS, Liverpool would play again Saturday, against Rush-Henrietta (Section V), and roar past the Royal Comets 54-31. What was more impressive was that it came without big scoring totals from Wike, who only had six points.
Still, Wike got seven assists and four steals, helping her teammates as Grimshaw led with 14 points, five rebounds and five steals. Barnell had 10 points and five rebounds, Socker gained seven points and Lexi Emmi finished with six points.
