A long time has passed since the Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool girls basketball teams found themselves facing each other in a game of importance where both believed they could win.
These neighbors and rivals match up in Sunday’s Section III Class AA semifinal at SRC Arena at 5 p.m., the showdow set up by a pair of impressive efforts in Tuesday’s sectional quarterfinals.
C-NS, the top seed, shut down no. 8 seed Fayetteville-Manlius 62-34 as Liverpool, the no. 5 seed, traveled to no. 4 seed Auburn and roared to a 79-50 victory.
Despite an 11-7 regular-season mark and the fact that it had not faced many Class AA sides in the regular season, Auburn still had home-court advantage, which only seemed to motivate Liverpool further. It also helped that one of the Maroons’ top players, Jania Freeman, was ill and could not play.
Roaring out of the gate, the Warriors had a 19-3 lead late in the first quarter. Auburn answered with a 16-0 run to tie it, but late in the half the Warriors’ 13-2 push put them in front for good.
The second half echoed the opening sequence, Liverpool slicing through the Maroons’ defenses and outscoring them 25-9 to all but put the game away.
Mostly, the Warriors made the Maroons pay for its attention given to Jenna Wike, who was held to four points, yet watched as all of her fellow starters stepped up their production.
Amanda Barnell set a season mark with 19 points, while Lexi Emmi also flourished, earning 16 points. Kyra Grimshaw finished with 13 points as Holly Sleeth got 10 points and Michelle Lonczak had nine points from a trio of 3-pointers.
Meanwhile, C-NS was facing an F-M side that had beaten Nottingham 56-43 in the opening round Feb. 16. The Northstars were back at full strength as point guard Morgan Siechen returned from an illness that kept her sidelined late in the regular season.
Two previous times, C-NS had beaten F-M, by margins of 45-34 in December and 48-29 in January. Having learned from those encounters, C-NS started out patient and, while waiting for its offense to crank up, never allowed the Hornets to get comfortable with its attack.
F-M only managed eight points in the first half. Things changed from there, mostly thanks to freshman Lexie Roe, who hit on five 3-pointers and got 17 points overall.
C-NS was too good, though, putting four players in double figures as Amani Free led with 18 points, while Jessica Cook had 11 points. Julia Rowe and Brandi Feeney had 10 points apiece. Siechen added six points.
Now the Northstars get Liverpool, part of a semifinal doubleheader at SRC Arena that includes no. 2 seed and defending champion West Genesee facing no. 6 seed Baldwinsville at 6:45. The winners go to the Carrier Dome for the March 2 sectional final.
