Eight minutes of poor play, capped by a stunning shot at the horn, derailed the Cicero-North Syracuse girls basketball team’s six-game win streak and may have cost it a top Section III Class AA playoff seed, too.
The Northstars were in control of last Tuesday’s game against visiting Baldwinsville heading into the fourth quarter, only to surrender that control and then take a 64-63 defeat when the Bees’ Sydney Huhtala drained a 3-pointer as the clock hit zero.
Nothing suggested that this would happen. Not only had C-NS not lost since Dec. 28 (a 60-44 defeat to Amherst), it had rolled past B’ville 76-50 when the two sides had met in early December.
And that was when the Bees had a full, healthy roster on hand, which changed when its one of its top players, Katie Pascale, was injured a couple of weeks later against Nottingham.
Pascale still had not returned when B’ville made its visit to C-NS, sporting a modest 8-7 record. The Northstars played a strong first half, steadily building a 39-24 advantage.
Entering the fourth quarter, C-NS still led 50-36, but the Bees’ full-court pressure caused a rash of turnovers and baskets on the other end that wiped out the Northstars’ advantage.
By the time they reached the final seconds, C-NS only led 62-61. Given two free throws with 7.1 seconds left, Julia Schaefer only made one of them, and B’ville grabbed possession, Hannah Mimas moving it up the court until she passed off to Huhtala.
Behind the 3-point line, Huhtala fired – and converted the game-winner, giving her 14 points for the night. Mimas had produced 20 points as Jordan Roy got 10 points and Courtney Clute had nine points.
Jessica Cook matched Mimas with 20 points of her own, Mackenzie White adding 12 points as Julia Rowe got nine points and Morgan Siechen finished with eight points.
While all this was going on, Liverpool effectively rebounded from its Jan. 25 defeat to C-NS by hosting Corcoran and putting together a 49-32 victory over the Cougars.
Gradually, the Warriors assumed control in the game’s middle stages and, unlike the Northstars, closed strong, holding Corcoran to three points in the fourth quarter.
Eighth-grade Neveah Wingate stepped up in a big way, leading Liverpool with 13 points. Though Amanda Barnell was held to six points, Lexi Emmi got nine points, all from three 3-pointers, with Karlyssa Shifflett and Jim’marya Hunter also getting six points.
On Friday, Liverpool faced a Fayetteville-Manlius side it beat 43-40 a month earlier, but the rematch, while also a close contest, went in the other direction as the Warriors fell 54-48 to the Hornets.
F-M’s defense was superb in the first half, containing Liverpool to a large degree as the Warriors found itself trailing 29-17 at the break.
Even when Liverpool tried to rally, F-M answered it, Lexie Roe getting 24 points and Lily Fish picking up six of her 12 points at the free-throw line. Roe had twice the total of Barnell, who led her side with 12 points as Emmi got 10 points, Wingate eight points and Lindsey Toper seven points.
Meanwhile, C-NS, fuming about the loss to B’ville, took it out on Henninger, at least to some degree, the Northstars prevailing 63-45 over the Black Knights.
Building a 53-31 lead through three quarters, C-NS dominated in the paint thanks to Cook, who had 21 points, and Rowe, who gained 16 points, one of her best career totals. White had nine points, with Isabella Kingsley getting eight points and Brandi Feeney adding six points.
In Saturday’s game against Poughkeepsie’s Our Lady of Lourdes, C-NS won again, 58-51, trailing for large portions of the game before a strong fourth quarter where it held Lourdes to four points.
Cook again dominated in the paint, earning 25 points, while Siechen gained 12 points and Rowe finished with 11 points.
In this final full week of the regular season, C-NS would host Nottingham and travel to F-M, with Liverpool at home to face Henninger before its own battle with Nottingham.
