TROY – Twice before the Liverpool girls basketball team reached its ultimate destination – Hudson Valley Community College in Troy – without getting the ultimate prize.
Now the third time around the Warriors, full of experience and toughened by all it had got through to get to this point, would only find satisfaction and fulfillment by snaring a long-awaited state Class AAA championship.
Yet for the second year in a row a Section I team denied that ultimate dream. Albertus Magnus topped Liverpool 67-47 Sunday afternoon in the title game.
Just reaching here hinged on Liverpool defeating Long Island champion Syosset in Saturday’s state semifinal, and things were rough for a while until a sensational second-half turnaround produced a 65-56 victory over the Braves.
Little went well at the outset, with the Warriors off its game and Syosset breaking out to a 16-8 advantage through one quarter, stretching that margin to double digits at one point in the second period.
What ultimately proved important was that Liverpool didn’t let the game get away and, trailing 31-23 at the break, responded with arguably its best half of basketball all season.
Swarming with its 1-3-1 zone defense, the Warriors forced a string of Syosset turnovers which turned into baskets on the other end and, with a 13-0 run, took the lead for good.
All told, Liverpool outscored the Braves 24-7 in that third period and did an effective job maintaining that lead down the stretch, never letting Syosset get closer than seven.
A’briyah Cunningham was back at something close to full speed after the hamstring injury which affected her throughout the post-season and burned Syosset throughout the game on her way to 25 points and 13 rebounds.
Gia Kinsey continued to stand out, too, the eighth-grader putting up 21 points as Gianna Washington finished with nine points and seven rebounds. Angie Kohler got six points and Gracie Sleeth contributed eight rebounds, plus four steals.
Then Liverpool watched as Albertus Magnus, the state Class AA champions of 2024 who moved up to AAA this season, routed Lancaster 67-33 in the other state semifinal.
So the title game involved the Warriors again trying to get past a private-school Section I power, which it could not do a year ago in Troy when it fell in the final to Poughkeepsie Lourdes.
In contrast to what happened against Syosset, Liverpool enjoyed a much better start jumping out 12-3 in the first five minutes. But Magnus settled down and cut the margin to 14-11 by the end of the opening period.
Then the Falcons roared out in front in the second quarter, forcing the Warriors to lean heavily on its defense to stay close while it struggled for baskets.
Magnus had all the momentum, though. Liverpool only had eight points the rest of the half after that 12-3 start and found itself staring at a 32-20 halftime deficit.
Falcons forward Julia Scott led her team’s decisive push. Of the 21 points Magnus scored in the second quarter Scott had 14 of them, and she wasn’t done.
Looking for a second second-half comeback in as many days, the Warriors instead traded baskets early in the third quarter but could not make up ground.
Instead, Magnus stretched it out, led 53-34 at the end of the period and would close it out from there, Scott proving unstoppable on her way to 33 points and 22 rebounds.
Cunningham produced 15 points, most of it from a trio of 3-pointers, while adding nine rebounds. Kohler also reached double figures with 11 points as Washington got nine points. Kinsey and Sleeth had six points apiece, Kinsey also picking up six rebounds.
Though Cunningham and Washington graduate, Liverpool is set to have Sleeth, Kinsey, Kohler and top reserve Lyric Noel back for 2025-26 and another push to win the last game of the last weekend.
