Top 10 high school girls basketball teams to watch in 2016 Connecticut state tournaments

Video: Burke (SC) knocks in half-court shot to advance to state finals
See the amazing shot in South Carolina that threw the crowd into a frenzy.

Assembling this list would've been so much easier before last week's conference tournaments put the girls basketball season on tilt.

Five teams ranked in the GameTimeCT.com/New Haven Register Top 10 coaches and media poll lost, and all were top seeds in their respective league tourneys. That included second-ranked Mercy-Middletown, unbeaten New London (third) and New Fairfield (fifth).

It was already going to be difficult to narrow this list down to 10 teams. One could sensibly name several teams that could win a Class LL tournament deeper than the Mariana Trench.

It won't be a surprise if someone not on this list hoists one of the CIAC's four state championships.

Click here to see the MaxPreps Connecticut high school girls basketball playoff brackets


Capital Prep (Hartford)
The 20-3 Trailblazers have run Connecticut girls basketball the past three seasons and haven't lost an in-state game since 2012. They're the favorite to win their third-straight Class L title and fourth-successive CIAC championship. Syracuse-bound senior post Desiree Elmore is the state's most dominant force (27.6 points per ggame, 16 rebounds per game, 3.78 steals per game, 3.3 block per game). Junior point guard Angelique Rodriguez has taken on a bigger role (16.4 ppg, 5.6 rpg) in her third year as a starter. Losses to New York's Bishop Loughlin (60-52) and Christ the King (66-62, 79-74) dropped Prep to the fifth seed, so it could meet top-seed New Fairfield (22-1) in the semifinals.

Cromwell
Meet the Panthers, the first of the state's two unbeaten teams at 23-0. The Shoreline Conference champions have appeared in two of the last three Class M finals and won it all in 2013, becoming the first team in six seasons to finish unbeaten. Mya Villard has averaged a double-double to lead Cromwell while Emma Belcourt, Araya Lessard and Nikki Bitinaitis have added scoring punch. The Panthers are the top seed in Class M and could have a quarterfinal game against old Shoreline friend Morgan of Clinton (Cromwell beat it three times this season) or Waterford, which stunned unbeaten New London in the Eastern Connecticut Conference semifinals. Should the Panthers get to the semis, they would most likely meet fourth-seeded Holy Cross, the Naugatuck Valley League champion.

Enfield
The 23-0 Raiders are the state's other unbeaten team and seeded second in Class M. Get used to them being a state championship threat, as their leading scorers are sophomores Mary Baskerville, Danielle Delano and Caterina Fonseca. Baskerville, a 6-foot-3 center, scored a season-high 27 point as Enfield beat Bolton on Feb. 24, 48-41, to win its first North Central Connecticut Conference title. Delano, who led the team in 3-pointers, was sidelined with a strained Achilles tendon and in a walking boot. There are some tricky teams in the Raiders' half of the bracket with No. 11 Notre Dame of Fairfield, the South-West Conference champion, perhaps being the toughest should both advance to the semifinals.

E. O. Smith (Storrs)
The UConn women's basketball team isn't the only hoops power in Storrs this winter. E.O. Smith (22-2) has been one of the state's hottest teams, as it's won 20 straight games. That includes an 81-68 win over top-seeded South Windsor to win the wide-open Central Connecticut Conference on Feb. 24. McKenna Dale — a two-event state freestyle swimming champion — scored 30 in the win and Isa Peczuh added 28 points. The Panthers are seeded third in LL and, should the seeds hold, would face Glastonbury in a CCC quarterfinal rematch.

Warde (Fairfield)
The 20-3 Mustangs returned their entire starting lineup and were favored to win the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference, arguably the state's best and deepest league this season. Juniors Shania Osborne, Iliana Krasniqi and Daja Polk made sure Warde was the FCIAC's best team during the regular season and the top seed in the tournament. There was one team that foiled the Mustangs — Stamford, which beat them in the regular season (59-51) and Friday's conference final (51-49). Warde is seeded second in LL, and it's plausible that it could meet fourth-seeded Stamford for a third time for the LL title.

Mercy (Middletown)
The 21-2 Tigers played like the state's second-best team during the regular season. Mercy tore through the Southern Connecticut Conference and won nonleague games over Holy Cross (65-49) and ECC champion Norwich Free Academy (51-43). Their only loss was to Capital Prep (49-43). So it seemed like Mercy was a shoo-in to win its third SCC title. Nope. Hand of Madison shocked the Tigers in the final, 48-46, on Feb. 25. Regardless, senior Destine Perry and sophomores Sam Gallo and Meghan DeVille helped Mercy earn the top seed in Class LL, and they aim to get the program to its fifth final in seven seasons.

New London
The 21-1 Whalers seemed like a lock to win the ECC title after running through the league during the regular season. No one could contain guard Jada Lucas, or handle the onslaught of posts Charee Osborne and India Pagan (6-2). So as shocking as Mercy's defeat was last Wednesday, New London's ECC semifinal loss that night to Waterford (41-32) may have been a bigger upset. The Whalers beat Waterford twice during the regular season (48-38 and 44-23), and had nonconference wins over Notre Dame of Fairfield (47-41) and two-time Class S champion Thomaston (61-33). New London is the second seed in Class L and caught a bit of a break by being in the bracket opposite Capital Prep and New Fairfield. That written, it would face newly crowned SCC champion Hand in the quarterfinals should the higher seeds advance.

Norwich Free Academy
No one in Class LL should faze the fifth-seeded Wildcats (21-3) as they played a challenging non-conference schedule. They have road wins over Fairfield Warde (62-54) and No. 13 and FCAIC semifinalist Ridgefield (42-21), and beat No. 8 South Windsor in a home-and-home series (52-41, 63-57). NFA also played all but seven games on the road. The Wildcats don't have size and struggled with larger teams. Injuries have been an even bigger problem, the latest a season-ending ankle injury to starting point guard Alenni Rosado. That puts more pressure on the trio of Mackenzie Burke (the ECC tournament Most Outstanding Player), Hailey Conley (a dangerous 3-point shooter) and Central Connecticut-bound Cebria Outlaw.

Stamford
The fourth-seeded Black Knights (20-2) have the most dangerous player in Class LL — senior point guard Tiana England. England, who has given St. John's a verbal commitment, often draws double and triple teams, as was the case in the FCIAC final. England still scored a game-high 19 and earned MVP honors in leading Stamford to its first FCIAC title since 1979. Alexa Kellner and Camille Martinez have taken advantage of the extra defenders on England, with Martinez making seven 3-pointers and scoring 25 in a 63-47 semifinal win over Trumbull. The Black Knights have one of the roughest draws in LL and will play host to Ridgefield in Thursday's second round. The Tigers routed Stamford, 64-41, on Dec. 23. Mercy, NFA and South Windsor are also in the Black Knights' bracket.

Thomaston
The two-time Class S champions stormed through the Berkshire League to win their fifth-straight title. The Golden Bears (22-1) won their 21 league games by an average of 31 points, and all but one win was by double digits. They also beat SCC champion Hand, 61-58, on Dec. 28. Seniors Samantha Brostek, Charlotte Eberhardt, Gabrielle Hurlbert, Morgan Sanson and Nicole Schaefer and juniors Casey Carangelo and Julia Quinn all contributed to last year's state championship win and shouldn't be fazed by big games. Among the teams that could knock off the Golden Bears — No. 2 Bolton, No. 3 Canton (which lost to Thomaston in last year's S final, 52-50), and fourth-seeded Kolbe Cathedral of Bridgeport (which beat Notre Dame during the regular season, 51-45).