ONONDAGA COUNTY – For exactly 24 months, the Baldwinsville girls basketball team has waited and worked to get back to a single place, against a single particular opponent, with these singular stakes.
Once more, the Bees seek its first Section III Class AA championship since 1995. And once more, Cicero-North Syracuse stands in the way, just as it did when it topped B’ville in the last sectional title game held two years ago.
Just getting to Saturday night’s 7 p.m. final at SRC Arena required the no. 2 seed Bees to pass a serious stress test, which it did when it fought past no. 3 seed Rome Free Academy 62-57 in Sunday’s semifinal at Onondaga Community College’s Allyn Hall.
Not until the game’s final minute did B’ville go in front for good, with the senior duo of Sydney Huhtala and Ola Bednarczyk putting up the decisive points.
“They both stepped up,” said head coach Kathy Morse. “(But) I’m proud of my entire team. Good things happen when you play hard.”
Quite unlike their Jan. 25 meeting where the Bees won 71-59 and led comfortably most of the way, this game saw the Bees chase the Black Knights and especially its star guard, Anya McLeod, most of the way.
Only twice in the first half did B’ville get the lead, and quickly RFA took it back. Then, with McLeod working her total to 21 points, the Black Knights put the Bees in a 39-30 deficit late in the third quarter.
It was Kayla Young sparking the comeback with back-to-back 3-pointers and, by the time the period ended, the two sides were tied, 40-40, with everything left to settle.
Five time in the fourth quarter, the lead changed hands, and when RFA”s Alysa Jackson drained a 3-pointer with 1:19 left, the Black Knights again were in front, 55-54.
Seconds later, though, Bednarczyk hit a jumper from the corner. Then she grabbed a rebound on a missed shot, forcing RFA to start fouling.
It didn’t work. Between them, Bednarczyk and Huhtala went six-for-six from the free-throw line, with Huhtala’s pair of foul shots with 16.1 seconds left proving to be the clincher.
Overall, Huhtala had 24 points, but she contributed in every conceivable way, from rebounds and defensive pressure to timely steals that led to breakaway layups on the other end.
“She’s everything to us,” said Morse.
Bednarczyk had 15 points and Young finished with 14 points, the pair making up for the fact that McLeod finished with 34 points, nearly carrying her team to the sectional final.
Before all this, B’ville first had to make its way through last Tuesday’s sectional quarterfinal against no. 7 seed Henninger, which it did with a productive, consistent attack that put away that other group of Black Knights in a 70-53 victory.
Two regular-season wins against Henninger did not guarantee anything this time around, and after a week’s rest the Bees were sharp from the outset, eclipsing whatever the Black Knights could produce.
By halftime, B’ville led 33-24, but it stretched the margin to double digits in the third quarter and stayed there behind a three-pronged attack, all generated by its veterans.
Bednarczyk led the way, putting in 22 points, including a pair of 3-pointers. Huhtala finished with 16 points, Kyrah Wilbur close behind as she worked in the paint for 15 points.
The win over RFA followed, and now comes the Bees’ third chance at upending C-NS, who worked past rival Liverpool 58-46 in the other semifinal and twice beat B’ville this winter – once in early January, and again in the Feb. 14 regular-season finale.
And the third meeting in March will decide whether the Northstars maintain its throne or the Bees, after a 27-year wait, finally climb to the top.
