On Tuesday night, the Cicero-North Syracuse girls basketball team gets another opportunity to topple the West Genesee side it fell to in overtime back on Dec. 17.
This latest battle for supremacy in both the area Class AA and Salt City Athletic Conference Metro division ranks followed a week of action where the Northstars required a career-best effort from sophomore Jessica Cook to avoid a home defeat.
That came in last Tuesday’s game against visiting Nottingham, who had gone 6-4 in the first half of the regular season and, at 4-1 in league play, was third behind C-NS and West Genesee.
All game long, it proved tight, the Northstars nearly squandering a 28-23 halftime lead before Cook helped C-NS gain some control in the fourth quarter and helped C-NS beat the Bulldogs 53-44.
Only up 36-34 going to the final period, the Northstars continued to do what it had worked on all night – that is, work it around until Cook got open, then go to the middle.
Cook didn’t stop until she had registered 32 points, more than half C-NS’s output. Aniah Ingram had seven points, with Morgan Siechen and Isabella Kingsley getting six points apiece. The Bulldogs got 16 points from Lauryn Withrow and 12 points from Amaya Williams.
At Fayetteville-Manlius Friday night, the Northstars took a different approach, relying far less on Cook, but getting a far more comfortable victory, shutting down the Hornets 51-22.
Stingy all game long, C-NS led 30-14 by halftime and then held F-M to two points in the third quarter, all the while seeing everyone in its nine-player rotation earn at least one field goal.
Siechen led with nine points, all from three 3-pointers. Cook and Rowe were each held to seven points, but Alexandra Miller got eight points as Ingram and Brandi Feeney both had five points.
Liverpool would start its week by traveling to Henninger last Tuesday and, just as it did against F-M on Jan. 4, winning a close one as it got a 56-51 victory over the Black Knights.
It didn’t seem that way early, the Warriors leading 17-7 through one period, but over the course of the next two quarters Henninger ate into that margin, eight different players earning a field goal and the likes of Kiayra Enoch (12 points) and Shynia Chandler (10 points) leading the way.
Clinging to a 40-39 lead going to the fourth quarter, Liverpool fought off the Black Knights in large measure due to the game-high 18 points put up by Amanda Barnell.
Neveah Wingate stepped up, too, the eighth-grader earning a career-best 10 points as Victoria Morgan, Lexi Emmi and Lindsey Toper earned seven points apiece.
Now the Warriors would travel to Nottingham on Friday, and gained, perhaps, its most impressive win so far this winter, hanging on late to edge the Bulldogs 42-41.
Terrific defense throughout the first half proved the difference for Liverpool, whether it was the handful of baskets it allowed while building a 21-15 halftime advantage, or the stops it made in the final minutes with the outcome still in doubt.
It also helped to have three players – Morgan, Emmi and Barnell – produce 10 points apiece a bit more balance than Nottingham, who only had Jakiya Howard (14 points) get to double figures.
On Tuesday night, Liverpool would go to Baldwinsville, and then have its own clash with West Genesee Thursday as C-NS went from its battle with the Wildcats to a Thursday game with Corcoran and a Saturday trip to Poughkeepsie to face Our Lady of Lourdes.
