ONONDAGA COUNTY – In order for the Cicero-North Syracuse girls basketball team to make a run at unseating Liverpool from the top of the large-school ranks, it will need all phases of its game to be sharp.
And on a young Northstars roster with just one senior, junior Kat McRobbie-Taru remains the catalyst, as she demonstrated in a big way during Friday night’s 63-37 victory over state Class AAA no. 20-ranked Baldwinsville at North Syracuse Junior High School.
C-NS had not played in 10 days since a Jan. 16 rout of Fulton, and the Bees were off for a week leading up to this game, so it was not surprising to see both sides endure vast struggles in the game’s opening minutes.
B’ville, in particular, just could not make any shots, limited to a single field goal in the first quarter and not getting to double digits on the scoreboard until just before halftime.
At first, the Northstars didn’t take advantage of this, sifting through its own string of poor possessions and shots well of target – until McRobbie-Taru stepped up.
Late in the opening period, McRobbie-Taru hit on seven consecutive points, the only real surge the Northstars needed as it built up a 26-6 advantage just before the break.
When the Bees finally did see some outside shots fall in the third quarter, it reduced the margin to 40-26, with lots of time to make up more ground, but McRobbie-Taru wouldn’t allow it.
In the span of 64 seconds, McRobbie-Taru drilled back-to-back 3-pointer and added a runner, eight consecutive points that all but put the game out of reach as she would finish the night with 27 points.
Help came from Jilly Howell, who earned 13 points, and Leah Benedict, who had 12 points. On the Bees’ side, Olivia Davis had 14 points, Maddie Simons eight points and Madison Polky seven points.
This happened as Liverpool, at 14-1 and still parked at no. 7 in the state AAA rankings, hosted Henninger and maintained its perfect mark against Section III opponents, defeating the Black Knights 66-43.
Though it didn’t have the overwhelming start of many past games, the Warriors still worked its way to a 30-20 halftime lead before cranking up its defensive pressure during a decisive 18=6 third-quarter push.
A’briyah Cunningham, with 18 points, again led the offense, but Angelina Kohler was close behind netting 16 points. Kaylyn Sweeney had seven points, as did Kara Baroody, with Gracie Sleeth and Sophie Sageer earning six points apiece.
Liverpool takes on Fulton Tuesday night as C-NS (9-5) has three games next week, going to Jamesville-DeWitt before a weekend where it faces Nottingham and Buffalo’s Cardinal O’Hara.
