In an odd week of activity, the Baldwinsville girls basketball team played three games in four nights, met the nation’s highest-ranked junior player- and didn’t get to practice in the middle.
That last part proved the toughest. The Bees saw two-time defending Section III Class AA champion Cicero-North Syracuse march into the Baker High School gym and do whatever it wanted in a 64-28 romp.
B’ville caught CNS in the wake of the announcement that its superstar junior, Breanna Stewart, had verbally committed to play for long-time powerhouse Connecticut when she graduates in 2012.
Before then, though, Stewart is still with the Northstars – as the Bees painfully remembered on this night. In three periods of work, Stewart, with 30 points, helped CNS build a 62-18 edge before the reserves closed out the game.
As for B’ville, it could not quite match Stewart’s individual effort, as Maggie Monnat finished with seven points and Claire Monnat added six points.
It all started with Monday night’s makeup of the snowed-out Jan. 21 game with Rome Free Academy. Though it had a fair amount of shaky moments, the Bees got a much-needed 58-52 win over the Black Knights.
Much of the game was a chase, as B’ville never trailed, yet never got comfortable. It tore to a 20-10 lead early in the second quarter, only to have RFA, with a similar pressing, trapping and hustling style, inch close and only trail 26-23 at halftime.
Trying to put it away, the Bees opened the second half on a 12-2 run and pushed the margin to 45-31 before the Black Knights rallied again with seven straight points to end the third quarter. In the final period, the Bees pushed the margin back to 56-43, enough to hold on in the end.
Claire and Maggie Monnat both finished with 17 points. Liz Giromini and Andrea Moore each had eight points as Gaby Jordan added seven points. Allyson Eggan, with 16 points, and Leigh Shoemaker, with 14 points, led RFA’s push.
B’ville played against another group of Black Knights, from Henninger, 24 hours later and was in even more trouble before a big fourth quarter led to a 48-37 win.
As neither much offense going in the first half, the Bees trailed 15-14 at the break. Yet even when B’ville did move in front, it still did not get real control until the final period, when its pressure wore Henninger down.
Jordan took on a larger role, leading the Bees with 15 points. Maggie Monnat got 11 points, with Claire Monnat adding nine points and Angelica Romeu coming off the bench to earn eight points. Jami Petersen paced Henninger with 11 points.
Following the loss to CNS, the Bees look ahead to games next week at Oswego and Fayetteville-Manlius.