The Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool girls basketball teams have grown very familiar with one another over the last three seasons.
Especially in the postseason.
The teams have clashed in win-or-go home playoff matchups in each of the last two seasons and will now vie for a sectional title for the second year in a row after they each handled business in their respective Class AAA semifinal matchups on Wednesday night. Â
"I think it's fun and I think it's great for the programs," Liverpool coach Mike Wheeler said. "It's a rivalry game. We're 15 minutes apart and it's been a great rivalry for years. The opportunity right now for us is that we're playing a C-NS team that's talented from top to bottom."
The second-seeded Northstars are heading to the championship tilt after their 60-31 victory over No. 3 Bishop Ludden at Central Square's Paul V Moore High School. Top-seeded Liverpool defeated No. 4 Baldwinsville, 66-48, in the second semifinal of the day.
The Northstars were led by senior Kat McRobbie-Taru (26 points) and junior Jillian Howell (12 points). Coach Rob Siechen said he leans on his two veteran team captains to share their experience with some of the less experienced girls on the team.
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"Those two are the kids, they've been with us longest," he said. "They've been with us, both of them since they were freshmen and they've been through a lot. They draw upon prior experience and they're doing a good job of getting the younger players to understand what it takes to win this time of year."
Liverpool has come out on top in their last four games against C-NS, including last year's 57-50 victory in the Class AA title game. Before that, the Northstars had won seven straight games in the matchup since 2019. That includes a 58-46 victory over Liverpool in the Class AA semifinals in 2022.
"It's another chance ... it's an opportunity for us to play (Liverpool)," Siechen said. "We're both pretty familiar with each other, so it should be one of those games that whoever executes, hopefully, can get an advantage."
C-NS (16-6) and Liverpool (20-1) will now get their rematch for the sectional title. The championship game is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday at Onondaga Community College's Allyn Gym.
"We talked at the beginning of the year just about giving ourselves an opportunity to get back to the sectional finals," Wheeler said. "That was our goal because we won it last year. Let's give ourselves a chance to win it again, but we have to get there first. It's a big thing for the kids in the program. They put their minds to this and we kind of believed what we wanted to do was get back and we did that tonight."
