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STATE TOURNAMENT RESULTS
13's: Beat CT Shamrocks 28-22; lost to CT Wave 44-27; beat CT Select 2-0 (Forfeit); lost to CT Storm 32-20
14's: Beat Fairfield County Sun 63-57; lost to NH Blazers 52-32; beat Middlesex Rage 52-28
15's: Lost to CT Magic 56-47; lost to CT Storm 41-36
16 Red: Beat CT Gold 80-40; beat CT Storm 62-61; lost to CT Breeze-White 59-50
16 Blue: Lost to Waterbury PAL 56-54; lost to Wescon Fillies 66-59 (2 OT)
11's: Beat CT Breeze 32-24; lost to Shamrocks 34-20; beat Northstars 41-36
*** 2-1 overall; 4 teams remaining in bracket (3 with one loss)
*** NEXT GAME: Friday 6:15 PM at Yale-Court 2 vs. Wescon Fillies
*** 2-2/eliminated
*** 2-1 overall; 4 teams remaining in bracket (3 with one loss)
*** NEXT GAME: Friday 7:30 PM at Yale-Court 4 vs. CT Spirit
*** 0-2/eliminated
*** 2-1 overall; 4 teams remaining in bracket (3 with one loss)
*** NEXT GAME: Saturday 1:30 PM at Yale-Court 1 vs. winner of CT Shamrocks-CT Storm
*** 0-2/eliminated
Well, the weekend is finally over and as I arrive home around 11 pm there is good news to report and bad. First we will start with the bad, 16 Red battled but tasted defeat in the winners bracket final against the CT Breeze White. The good news, we are still alive and will play at 1:30 pm on saturday with a chance to make (the) state championship with one victory.....oh, and by the way, we also have qualifed for the Division 1 National Championships in a place called Orlando, Florida! Hello, Mickey.
Our first game of the weekend scared the coaching staff as we faced a talented CT Gold who had a player many think may be one of the elite players in the state. However, the Starters team came out ready from the opening tap and we quickly held a 43-17 halftime lead. After a bit of a slow start in the second half, we hit the "go" button and cruised to a dominating 80-40 win. The quintet of Chantell Alford (Wilbur Cross), Clare Fitzpatrick (Canterbury School), Elisha Homich (Ludlow), Sam Riccio (Avon) and Paxton Thornton (Housatonic Valley) combined for 61 points to lead us offensively, but it really was 10 players committing to playing uptempo basketball on both ends of the floor.
Our second game of the weekend was a true states thriller as we battled long time nemesis the CT Storm Black team....a team that was the #2 seed in the tournament and had beaten many of the same Starters players last year two times in the 2007 state tournament. However, this years edition would not be deterred and we found ourselves tied at 25 at the half. The second half saw 16 Red show true grit and determination to at one point build a 12 point lead and after surviving a great comeback by the skilled Storm, we left the court celebrating a well-earned 62-61 victory. The trio of Cassie Novicky (New Milford), Kat Woods (Northwest Regional), and Tanisha Carter (East Catholic) tallied 26 points, 21 rebounds, and 5 steals highlighted by Cassie's crucial bucket that put us ahead 62-55 with 45 seconds to play.
Our final game of the weekend was against the CT Breeze White team in the winners bracket final where the winner was guaranteed a spot in the state championship. Unfortunately, 16 Red struggled against the constant pressure from the Breeze and fell behind 29-14 at the half. Again, this team showed its heart though and twice we cut the lead to 6, but time ran out on the teams effort and the Breeze came away with a 59-50 triumph. A huge reason for our comeback after falling behind was the great guard play of Taylor Nkonoki (Middletown) and Kristyn Wright (East Catholic) who were able to calm the team down and combined for 10 assists in the games final 20 minutes.
16 Red Notes: There was no repeat 17 seconds of dancing this weekend by any coaches or directors.....a big thanks to all the coaches and players from the other Starters teams who came out and supported us----we all appreciate you guys very much....good luck to our 11's and 14's on Friday night as you continue to make all of us proud in the organization with your inspired play........73 days till opening tip at Disney's Wide World of Sports (but who is counting)......girls a nice job this weekend, but know we have to have a great practice Wednesday as we get ready for either a rematch against the Storm or a battle against 4 time state champion Shamrocks at 1:30pm this coming Saturday at Yale.....and finally, can the Red Sox please get some runs and end this darn losing streak ?!!?!?!?!
It’s state tournament time for 16 Blue. Game one was against Waterbury PAL. Both teams exchanged baskets for most of the first half, with Waterbury pulling ahead to a 6 point lead. Laura Neff, Brittney Huffman and Emily Savino led the Starters in the first half, combining for 14 of our 26 points. The second half saw the Waterbury PAL team jump out to a larger lead, but the Starter Girls fought back and taking the lead in the closing minutes of the game. The Starter girls held a 1 point lead with less than a minute to go in the game. With about 12 seconds to go, Waterbury went to the line for a 1 and 1. She hit the first, tying the game, the second shot was off the rim, but we were unable to secure the rebound, allowing the PAL to get the ball and score with about 9 seconds to go in the game. Unfortunately, we were unable to convert on our last offensive play and PAL won by 2. Emily Savino (Ellington H.S.) led all scoring with 14 points while Maggie Riddle (Cheshire H.S.) added 12 points (10 in the second half).
Game two was against the Wescon Phillies. The trend continued, the Phillies jumped out to an early 8 point lead and pushed that lead to 11 at the half. Turnovers and lazy defense plagued the first half for the Starters. In the second half, the Phillies came out running and was able to push the lead to 16, before the Starters began to respond. The 16 Blue team fought back from a 16 point deficit with about 11 minutes in the half to only being down 4 points at the 4 minute mark. With under a minute in regulation and down 1, Emily Walker was sent to the line for 2 shots. Emily knocked one down to send the game into overtime. Overtime saw both teams exchanging buckets, neither one ever being able to hold onto a lead. Overtime ended in yet another tie. Double overtime started off with the Phillies jumping out to a 3 point lead. We were unable to comeback and the Phillies pulled out the double OT win. The charge was led by Laura Neff and Emily “blueberry” Savino, who combined for 26 points. Shardae Brown (Sacred Heart) added 8 points, while Laura Dulla (Avon H.S), Emily Walker (East Lyme H.S.) and Maggie Riddle (Cheshire H.S.) chipped in 5 each in the losing effort.
State Tournament
It was a very disappointing day for the 15 Red on Saturday April 26th. It was the first day of the State tournament and we had to win at 9 am in order to not play again till Sunday morning. Unfortunately, the Starters couldn’t make that happen. We were faced against the CT Magic, who had won their Friday night game easily. The Starters came out flat and found themselves down 33-11 quickly. Despite the calling of timeouts, the Starters could not gather themselves and were still down 19 at the half. The second half was more positive. We cut the lead to 6 with about 4 minutes to go with possession of the ball. The play was run perfectly and the shot went half way down the basket and came back out. From that point on the Starters could not get much closer. The final score was 56-51 with the Starters outscoring the Magic 36-22 in the second half. The second half comeback was a team effort, but the hole we had dug in the first half was too deep!
Losing the first game meant we played against the Storm at 3:40. We had to win this one to stay in the tournament. The game was close throughout, but the Starters never really got it going. We found ourselves in familiar territory down 6 at the half. We stayed in the game with the score fluctuating between three and five points for most of the second half. We had 14 opportunities to cut into the lead at the free throw line, but we were only able to cash in on 7. It was another disappointing loss for 15 Red forcing our National hopes to disappear. The final score was 41-36.
Welcome to the State Tourney, coming to you from the New Haven Field House! Our first game was against the CT Shamrocks. The girls came out ready to play and we jumped out to an early lead behind the scoring of AJ Levy (Meriden) and Kristen Van Gilst (Harwington). The Shamrocks battled back and cut the lead to 20-15 at the half. The second half started and the first 10-12 minutes was a defensive showcase by both teams, with the Shamrocks scoring the only baskets to tie the game at 20. AJ levy carried us for the final four minutes and scored the final 8 pts to lead us to victory. Kayleigh Shaughnessey (Enfield) played some inspired basketball on both sides of the floor against some of her old teammates, getting numerous rebounds and playing solid defense in the post.
Saturday morning came and it started rocky as Coach Sam got lost in the mean streets of New Haven and we pulled up just minutes before the game started. Our 2nd game was against the CT Wave and we got out to an early 7-1 lead, but the Wave battled back and eventually took the lead 11-9. In the final minutes of the first half, I picked up my first technical foul of the season...more to come and we fell behind 16-11 at the half. The girls battled hard to the finish especially on the defensive side, led by Haley Donahue (Vernon), Claire Laing (Rocky Hill) and Brianna McClelland (Glastonbury), who got their hands on a lot of loose balls, causing the Wave to struggle to get into their offense. However, we struggled offensively as well. The bright spot was that we got good shots, and we took the ball to the basket strong, unfortunately we didn't convert on many of those opportunities. The Wave prevailed and sent us to the losers side of the bracket.
Next up, was Da-Fam/CT Select. We won this game 2-0! It wasn't a defensive showcase, unfortunately Da-Fam didn't show up with enough players for the start of game and it was a forfeit.
Sunday morning came and we were up against the CT Storm. The Storm got out on us early and took a 16-5 lead. We battled back and cut the lead to 20-14 with a few minutes to go, behind some strong defense by Hannah Richards (Enfield) and some strong takes to the basket by Ashley Petrarca (Woodbury). Somehow, during that stretch, I picked up my 2nd technical of the weekend! On a personal note, Ive only got 2 other technicals in my 6 years of coaching. The Storm led 26-18 at the half. In the 2nd half we went to our swarming/scramble defense and gave the Storm all sorts of problems, forcing them to call time out after time out. We cut the lead to 4 with a few mins to go but we couldn't cash in on the offensive side of the ball. Gabriella DeSisto (Hamden) played her best basketball of the weekend during our final game, getting numerous rebounds and a few blocked shots. The girls ran out of gas, and the Storm capitalized and made some easy baskets to ensure their victory.
11 Red started out the state tournament against the CT Breeze. It was close in the beginning, but then we started to pull away. We were up 21-6 at half time but the Breeze made a comeback in the end of the second half. We did pull it out with a 32-24 victory. Kelsey Clemens (Plainville) led the team with 10 points, while Morgan Downey (Terryville) and Caroline Teti (Torrington) each added 6.
The second game of the weekend came on Saturday afternoon. We played the CT Shamrocks who proved too tough for us to overcome. We lost 34-20. There were chances to cut the lead but it kept getting away from us. Hannah Michalik (Durham) and Maggie Richards (Enfield) got to the free throw line for us but we just couldn't make enough. Kelsey Clemens once again led the team with 8 points. Michaela Marcus (Avon) added in 4.
The final game of the weekend was against the Northstars. Once again we found ourselves down and had to overcome a mountain. We were down 21-9 and fought back to tie it at 21. We played awesome basketball to shut down the other team and being able to score. We had key baskets from Sarah Ercoli (Plymouth) and Sarah Thompson (Plainville) while we also got huge defensive stops from Alyssa McCann (Wallingford) and Niki Nash (Torrington). We pulled out a 41-36 victory and are headed into next weekend. We play Friday night in hopes of advancing into the bronze medal game.
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