From an experience standpoint, the Cicero-North Syracuse girls basketball team’s pre-Christmas trip to Orlando, Florida was a special one, with plenty of bonding and other great experiences.
However, the basketball part was challenging, the Northstars only taking one of three games from Dec. 20-22 in the KSA Tournament at the Disney Wide World of Sports.
There wasn’t too much time to regroup because, a week later, C-NS was on the road again, this time east to the Amsterdam Tournament, where it roared back to form .
In last Thursday’s opener, C-NS faced Bethlehem (Section II) and prevailed 53-38 over the Eagles, a game where it trailed 28-23 at halftime before its defense stifled Bethlehem throughout the second half.
Taking the lead just before the third quarter ended, the Northstars closed on a 16-3 push as Jessica Cook gained 17 points. Julia Rowe and Mackenzie White each had 11 points, White hitting on three 3-pointers as Morgan Siechen finished with six points.
A day later, it was C-NS against Amherst, a Section VI school from the Buffalo suburbs, who showed its strength by taking control early and never letting up as it handed the Northstars a 60-46 loss.
Held to six points in the first quarter, C-NS was playing from behind the entire afternoon, and even when it did put together some scoring runs, the Tigers answered them.
Cook thrived in the paint, scoring 16 points, but Rowe got held to three points, something the rest of the C-NS squad could not overcome as Isabella Kingsley managed 11 points and Siechen gained seven points.
Liverpool had its own action on Friday when it hosted Webster Thomas (Section V) in the opening part of the “Hoops for the Hospital” Tournament.
The Warriors lost, 63-51, to the Titans, who jumped out 15-6 in the opening period and generally spent the rest of the game fending off all of Liverpool’s attempts to catch up.
Amanda Barnell led that effort, putting up 19 points for Liverpool as Karlyssa Shifflett hit three 3-pointers to account for most of her 13 points. Lexi Emmi finished with six points.
Then it was on to SRC Arena on Saturday for a game against Syracuse Academy of Science, a state Class C finalist in 2018 moved up to the Class B ranks who lost 62-53 to Ithaca the day before.
SAS humbled the Warriors 75-50, the Atoms building a 57-34 lead through three quarters as Freey Pleasants had a triple-double of 13 rebounds, 10 points and 10 assists, with Aniyah Powell getting 21 points and Xyel Bradford adding 19 points and seven steals.
While Liverpool had a difficult time keeping up with the variety that SAS threw at them, Victoria Morgan still finished with 15 points, including three-pointers, with Barnell getting 11 points and Shifflett adding 10 points.
