Game 1 vs Team CT - Great start offensively as the 16 Red jumped out to a 34-18 halftime lead. Contributing mightily was Damika Martinez of Platt who had 13 first half points including 3 3-pointers. Kerri Stolle of Wamago was perfect from the field on her way to 7 first half points. The second half saw the Starters control the boards, outlet the ball and run their way to a final margin of 71-46. Taryn Roy of East Catholic led the way with 8 rebounds and Elisa Plaza of Platt was 4 of 5 from the field for 8 points and 7 rebounds. Martinez finished with a team high of 30 points. Tara Higgins of East Catholic and Jess Frawley of Agawam contributed to the team totals of had 11 steals, 5 deflections and 9 offensive rebounds.
Game 2 vs Spirit -Started the game ice cold, as in 8 for 35 from the field for a whopping 23%. Take away Sarah Benedetti of Canton who was 5 for 8 and we shot an impressive 3 for 27 and we were only down 3 at halftime!! The second half both teams warmed up and unfortunately the Spirit warmed up from behind the arc as they made 7 second half three-pointers. The game went right down to the wire as the Starters would get within one or two and then the Spirit would land another 3 pointer as 4 different players dropped one in. Sara Benedetti of Canton dropped in a 3 pointer to cut the lead to 2, however the score was wrong and we were only down a point. However, we then gave up an uncontested layup to go down on the scoreboard by 4. If we had known we were only down by 3 we could have run a play for a three pointer; we had 8 seconds left! Damika Martinez of Platt scored a layup and we called timeout with 2 seconds left and Kerri Stolle of Wamago almost came up with a steal as the 16 Red lost 62-61. Ashley Kinney of Somers gets the Fire hat award for her 7 points and excellent leadership and defensive effort throughout the game.
       Game 3 vs Blazers - Good offensive half as the Blazers jumped out to a 32-29 halftime lead. Ali Berman of Hopkins hit a three before the half which gave the Red some momentum going into halftime. Loren Pachesa of East Catholic had 5 points and several deflections, proving she needed no warmup to be effective on the court. The Blazers were even warmer in the second half as they finished with 71 to our 61. Despite the efforts of Taryn Roy of East Catholic with 15 points and 5 rebs and Damika Martinez of Platt who finished with 26 points and shot 63% from the field, we could never quite catch up to the Blazers. Finished a disappointing 1-2.

       After a very successful opening weekend the girls marched on to Yale for the CT State Championships. Our first game of pool play was against the Roughriders. Both teams struggled out of the gates, as we tried to feel each other out. Alex Marquis (Newington HS, 4 pts and 8 rebounds) sparked some life into our team coming off the bench. We struggled on the offensive end but we managed to hold a 19-18 lead at the half. A great pep talk was given by the coaches, and shortly thereafter, we went on a 21-0 run led by the press (great pressure by Zoe, Brenna, and Sara) and some timely shooting and we never looked back. Megan Schuppe (Northwest Catholic, 14 pts 5-6 ft), Carrie Polomsky (Wethersfield HS, 9 pts two 3’s) and Paige Young (Berlin HS, 7 pts) led the offensive attack. Final Score, Starters 45-23.
       Game two was against the Cobras, and we did a decent job of getting out of the gates led by Sara Hubbard ( Wethersfield HS, 11 pts 4 steals). The trio of Amanda Curvino (Canton HS, 5 pts 3 asst) Molly Jalbort (Cheshire HS, 4 pts 7 rebs) and Alex (4 pts and 6 rebs, 1 block) did the majority of the damage in the first half. The girls did a solid job on the defensive end and took 24-18 lead into the half. However, the 2nd half belonged to the Cobras for the majority of the 18 minute period. Finding us down 6 with under 4 minutes to go, Carrie (6 pts) and Megan (8 pts) made some big shots down the stretch to take back the lead for good. Final Score, Starters 39-36.
       The final game of pool play was against Lady Blazers, who were also 2-0 going into the game. The winner would take the #1 seed while the loser would take the #2. Going in, we knew we had to dictate the style of play because no way we were going to be able to run up and down with them. The girls did a tremendous job of controlling tempo; we limited them on the boards. Brittney Needham, (Hamden HS) Molly and Alex did a great job of blocking out. Our guards did a solid job against their relentless ball pressure and we took the ball to the basket strong. Megan (11 pts 5 rebs 4 asst) scored the team's first 8 points of the game, Paige (7 pts 4 rebs) did a great job of using her quickness and sticking jumpers against the bigger defenders. We found ourselves up 19-16 at the half. To start the 2nd half, it was much of the same as we limited them on the boards and fast break points. Our ball movement was outstanding as well, as we stayed out of the traps and got many teammates open shots. Carrie (9 pts) and Zoe Fanolis (Hamden HS, 7 pts 4 asst) benefited the most from that as we stretched our lead to 8 (40-32) with over 9 minutes to go. The Lady Blazers dug deep and battled the rest of the way. Their pressure really got to us and we started turning over the ball left and right, which led to easy transition points for them. They ran away from us and dominated the remaining portion of the game. Final Score, Blazers 59-44.
       The loss to the Blazers, gave us the #2 seed and a bye into the Quarterfinals. Our opponent was the Breeze, a very aggressive team who likes to run and press. The girls were well prepared for this challenge as we jumped out on them early, getting out to a 12-0 lead to start the game. Sara (11 pts, 5 steals, 3 assts) was outstanding on both ends of the floor, getting steals or finding her way to the basket. We controlled the majority of the half until the final two minutes, as we led 18-5, but they ended the half on a 7-0 run to close the gap 18-12. The second half started like first half ended, the Breeze scored the next 6 pts to tie the game at 18. We answered the call and started to execute on offense and played good team defense to really limit their offensive strengths. We pushed ahead and won the game 40-30. The trio of Carrie, Brittney, and Megan chipped in with 16 pts.

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