ONONDAGA COUNTY – For most of last Friday night’s showdown, the Liverpool girls basketball team stayed right with Baldwinvsille, matching the visitors’ intensity, performance and emotion.
But the Warriors ultimately paid for the way the game started, unable to overcome a steep early deficit in a 65-53 defeat that had all kinds of ramifications.
Both Liverpool and B’ville entered the game with just one loss in the SCAC Metro division, right behind Cicero-North Syracuse, who had beaten both of them the week before.
Adding to the stakes was the fact that, if the Bees won, it would give long-time head coach Kathy Morse her 400th career victory, and that would take place in large part due to what happened in the opening minutes.
On one end, the Bees’ defensive pressure kept Liverpool from getting a field goal for nearly five minutes. Meanwhile, B’ville sprinted out to a 17-3 lead, led by Ola Bednarczyk, who had 10 of her team-high 18 points in the first quarter.
B’ville’s margin grew to 28-11 early in the second quarter as, to that point, no one other than Naveah Wingate had put up a basket or free throw for Liverpool.
Only then did the Warriors begin to settle down on both ends and chipped away until it closed within nine, 30-21, early in the third period.
For the rest of the game, a pattern took hold. The Bees could not put the game away, but despite 24 points from Wingate, Liverpool could not make up much ground even as the pace quickened and the intensity grew.
Four different times, the Warriors got within eight points, only to have B’ville answer, the game all but settled when Kyrah Wilbur drove to the basket, converted, was fouled and made the free throw with 1:32 left to make it 60-48.
Aside from Bednarczyk, three other Bees reached double figures. Carlie Young earned 14 points, with Sydney Huhtala and Jayda Pyle each getting 12 points.
By contrast, no other Liverpool player got close to Wingate’s production as Gianna Washington finished with nine points and Janea Hamilton-Brown added seven points.
Meanwhile, C-NS returned to action over the weekend with a pair of games, starting with a nail-biter Saturday against Saratoga Springs where the Northstars did just enough to hold off the Blue Streaks 67-64.
Fast-paced from the outset, C-NS overcame an early deficit by outscoring Saratoga 25-14 in the second quarter, then spending the rest of the game deftly answering all the attempts by the Blue Streaks to catch up.
Again, the duo of Alexa Kulakowski and Alita Carey-Santangelo led the way, with Kulakowski hitting five 3-pointers on her way to 26 points overall and Carey-Santangelo working inside to get 21 points. Sydney Nesci added seven points.
A day later, the Northstars met another team from the Section II ranks, Shenendehowa, but was not quite able to complete the weekend sweep, falling 62-54 to the Plainsmen.
For most of the game, Shen was out in front, and it deftly turned away all of C-NS’s rallies. Still, Carey-Santangelo put up 21 points, with Kulakowski earning 17 points as Nesci got eight points and Kathleen Taru, back in the lineup, earned six points.
