ONONDAGA COUNTY – No matter when they play or what might be at stake, the Liverpool and Cicero-North Syracuse girls basketball teams always are motivated to get the best of one another.
The rematch of their Jan. 7 battle which Liverpool won 55-48 takes place Friday night at 5 p.m. at the newly revamped C-NS gymnasium, part of a doubleheader with the boys teams squaring off, too.
They’ll do so with Liverpool having played Baldwinsville twice in the previous week, including last Friday night’s initial battle which would feature more spectacular defense from the reigning sectional champions in a 53-32 victory.
As it turned out, what happened in the first half was pivotal. Liverpool struggled for baskets, but its 1-3-1 zone defense smothered B’ville and continued to do so even as it started to pull away in the third period.
A’briyah Cunningham led the getaway, burning B’ville for 26 points, nearly half her team’s output. The other half of it was mostly from Gracie Sleeth, who had 11 points, and Gianna Washington, who got 10 points.
Only Olivia Davis, with 11 points, hit double figures for the Bees, with Liverpool limiting two standouts, Maddy Polky and Natalie Hollingshhead, to a combined three field goals.
C-NS, meanwhile, saw its game last Tuesday against Bishop Ludden pushed back to Feb. 16 and so, by the time it met state Class AA no. 7-ranked Rochester Aquinas on Friday it had not played in a week and had practices curtailed, too.
All of this may have contributed to the Northstars taking a 65-52 loss to the Irish, who jumped out 19-7 only to watch C-NS, with the competitive rust off, make up most of the ground in the second and third periods.
Only trailing 42-40, the Northstars could not keep Aquinas from pulling away late, especially with the offense struggling aside from Grace Villnave’s 17 points. Leah Benedict and Alexis Gasparini had eight points apiece and Liv Cook got seven points, but Jilly Howell was held to five points, a total Meadow Werts equaled.
