NORTH SYRACUSE – Even as it occupied the no. 20 spot in the state Class AAA rankings and owned a 12-3 record, the Baldwinsville girls basketball team still found itself with plenty to prove against the area’s reigning large-school powers.
Humbled by state no. 7-ranked Liverpool earlier in the month, the Bees tried again for a signature win last Friday against Cicero-North Syracuse, only to get stopped by cold shooting and the hot hand of Kat McRobbie-Taru in a 63-37 loss.
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 as B’ville would look for a regular-season sweep of Henninger Tuesday before hosting East Syracuse Minoa Friday night.
