Now the Cicero-North Syracuse and West Genesee girls basketball teams are on even terms in this 2018-19 season, with a likelihood that one more decisive chapter remains.
With a tremendous fourth-quarter effort on both ends, the Northstars prevailed 56-45 Tuesday night in Camillus, avenging a 55-52 overtime defeat to those same Wildcats a month earlier.
Even with that earlier result, and WG’s narrow win over C-NS in the 2018 sectional Class AA final, Northstars head coach Eric Smith said his team was confident that it could turn those results around.
Doing so required an all-out, physical effort, especially from the C-NS defense, who down the stretch stifled the Wildcats right after surrendering a lead it had held most of the way.
The first task for the Northstars was containing WG’s 1,000-point scorer, Madison Smith, and it did so, holding her without a point in the first half, even as her sister, Mackenzie Smith, was putting up 14 points.
Meanwhile, C-NS benefited from having sophomore forward Julia Rowe in the lineup, something that wasn’t the case back in December. Rowe’s presence in the paint complemented Jessica Cook and made the Northstars difficult to deal with in the paint.
Despite all this, though, WG followed the script of that OT win at C-NS, falling behind 21-11 in the second quarter, but steadily eating away at that deficit through the game’s middle stages.
Aleysha Castanon, filling the role of surprise contributor that Catie Cunningham played a month ago, poured in 11 points, all in the second half. And it was Castanon’s 3-pointer that pushed the Wildcats in front 44-41 with 6:50 left.
That was WG’s last field goal. Smith said the key the Northstars’ defensive performance down the stretch was keeping the Wildcats from driving to the basket, forcing them into long-range shots or creating turnovers.
Rowe’s basket with four minutes left gave C-NS the lead for good, and she had five points in the Northstars’ decisive 15-0 run. Cook tacked on four points, giving her 20 for the night, and Morgan Siechen’s 3-pointer with 2:04 left was another key blow as she finished with 10 points.
Given the gaps seen this season between C-NS, West Genesee and the rest of the Class AA contenders, the odds that these two could have a third meeting in the Section III playoffs are quite good.
Yet Liverpool might have something to say about this long-term, with games against the Wildcats and Northstars in the next two weeks and plenty of momentum in the wake of Tuesday’s 69-46 victory over Baldwinsville.
Completing a regular-season sweep of the Bees and climbing above the .500 mark (7-6), the Warriors, who topped the Bees 45-33 in December, broke out of an 18-18 first-quarter tie in an emphatic manner.
Liverpool held B’ville to seven points in the second period, then outscored the Bees 41-21 in the second half, with Amanda Barnell impossible to contain as she finished with a season-best 26 points.
Barnell didn’t work alone, though. Lexi Emmi put in 14 points, with Karlyssa Shifflett getting 12 points. Victoria Morgan and Neveah Wingate had six points apiece.
Now Liverpool would get its turn against West Genesee Thursday night. And the Warriors led going into the fourth quarter, but were not quite able to match what C-NS did, falling 63-58 to the Wildcats.
By outscoring WG 15-8 in the second period, Liverpool went out in front, staying there for long stretches due to red-hot shooting. Most of Morgan’s 21 points came from five 3-pointers, while Emmi connected four times beyond the arc on her way to 20 points.
Yet Barnell was held to four points, and that effort proved important when the Wildcats regained the lead in the fourth quarter, hanging on as Madison Smith roared back from her C-NS struggles to pour in 26 points, Catie Cunningham adding 13 points.
Meanwhile, C-NS went to Corcoran and beat the Cougars 64-51, the key stretch a 28-13 outburst during the second quarter that established a 38-20 halftime advantage.
All nine Northstars that saw action earned at least one field goal as Cook again scored 21 points. Mackenzie White’s trio of 3-pointers helped her gain 11 points overall as Aniah Ingram added eight points.
So C-NS and Liverpool are both in fine form heading into next Friday’s head-to-head matchup on the Warriors’ home floor.
