SYRACUSE – Having climbed to the top of the area large-school ranks and advanced to the 2023 state Class AA final four, the Liverpool girls basketball team now has a multifaceted challenge.
Some of it has to do with moving to the newly-established Class AAA division for post-season competition. More of it, though, involves replacing a senior class that included star forward Nevaeh Wingate, now at St. John’s University.
Wingate’s particular mix of skills meant as much as her offensive production. However, many underclassmen contributed to last winter’s success, and they are still very much present.
And it didn’t take long for Liverpool to author a high-quality victory in 2023-24, going to Bishop Ludden in last Friday night’s opener and defeating the Gaelic Knights 55-45.
Ludden, like Liverpool, moved into Class AAA after the departure of a big-name star, in this case Amarah Streiff, but had routed Rome Free Academy 76-37 in its season opener the night before it faced the Warriors.
Establishing its defense early, Liverpool held the Gaelic Knights to eight points in the first quarter and remained steady until it went to halftime carrying a 28-19 advantage.
All through the second half, Ludden tried to make a sustained run, but the Warriors kept answering them, with A’briyah Cunningham at the forefront.
Following a breakout performance as a sophomore, Cunningham began her junior campaign with a game-high 21 points, getting help from Gianna Washington, who had 11 points, and Giselle Cruz, who picked up eight points.
Bridget Dunham led Ludden with 20 points, but Liverpool held guard Ava Carpenter without a field goal, a fact that the Gaelic Knights could not overcome.
After a Tuesday trip to Nottingham, Liverpool has its home openers this weekend, back-to-back games against Horseheads (Section IV) and Hilton (Section IV) as part of the Zebra Classic that both tip off at 11:30 a.m.
All this comes after Cicero-North Syracuse makes its season debut against East Syracuse Minoa on Tuesday, exactly a week before the Dec. 12 showdown between the Northstars and Warriors at the LHS gym, the only time they are scheduled to meet in the regular season.
