Cicero-North Syracuse girls basketball coach Eric Smith always likes to give his team a good workout before heading into league play.
This year, the Northstars took a trip out West to a pre-Christmas tournament where they went 1-3 against some pretty tough competition.
Since returning and resuming play in the Salt City Athletic Conference Metro Division in January, the Northstars haven't lost.
C-NS won its fifth straight game tonight at home, a 50-45 victory over previously undefeated Baldwinsville.
The Northstars (8-5) used a 10-0 run to erase a five-point deficit and take a 45-40 lead midway through the fourth quarter while the Bees (12-1) went scoreless for three minutes.
Junior forward Jessica Cook led the way with 20 points for C-NS, but is was eight fourth-quarter points from senior Alexandra Miller, who has been fighting an ankle injury, that keyed the Northstars' decisive run.
For Baldwinsville, sophomore Sydney Huhtala scored 15 points, but she was the only Bees' player in double figures.
In a game that turned into a back-and-fourth grinder, neither team looked like the SCAC Metro contenders that they are.
"It wasn't pretty. But you find a way to win, and the kids were able to do that," C-NS coach Eric Smith said.
The smaller Baldwinsville players harrassed the taller Northstars, and particularly Cook, inside throughout the game, forcing a number of turnovers as teammates kept trying to push the ball inside to the big junior.
Baldwinsville senior guard Katie Pascale missed half of the final eight minutes after bumping her knee, and that didn't help the Bees, who rely on Pascale's scoring and ball-handling.
"A big part of the game was when Pascale got hurt," Smith said. "She's a very good leader - a very good runner of their team - and they missed her for that short period of time."
Miller, a starter last season who just got back onto the court in January after recovering from an ankle injury, said the Northstars finally got their offense going late.
"I think we just relaxed on the offensive end," she said. "We have a great post player, we have great guards, we have ball-handlers - we just relaxed and took care of the ball and looked for open shots."
For her part, Miller made a huge 3-pointer with 5 minutes, 10 seconds left to put C-NS up, 41-40. Miller hit two more baskets down the stretch as the Northstars built a 49-45 advantage with 1:27 left to play.
"She's finally getting back to 100 percent," Smith said. "We're glad she's back."
Neither team could get a basket the rest of the way. A free throw by Mackenzie White, who contributed 11 points on the night, accounted for the final margin.
Smith agreed that the trip to Phoenix, Ariz., in late December gave his team a good preparation for the league season. But the coach was disappointed that his girls couldn't better handle the pressure from the Bees.
"It's two games in a row where we lose our minds and start rushing and not doing the things we know how to do," he said, referring to Tuesday's 46-32 win over West Genesee, the defending sectional champions.
"It's a little disappointing that we don't handle pressure as well as we have, because the pressure that we saw in Arizona was far greater than what we've seen here," Smith said.
The Northstars are off for six days before hitting the road to visit Nottingham on Friday. The Bees will do likewise, traveling to Fayetteville-Manlius next Friday.
