No. 1 Mercy girls basketball has eye on bigger prize in Connecticut

At the start of the girls basketball season, Mercy (Middletown) was ranked at No. 5 in the state preseason poll, mostly based on reputation. It may have surprised some since head coach Tim Kohs' team would likely be starting mostly sophomores with one senior, Amber Bepko, who is headed for the University of Hartford next season.

Then after a season-opening, eight-point loss to powerhouse Hillhouse (New Haven), a drop seemed likely. But by the time of the second poll, two weeks later, Mercy had risen to No. 2 because of losses above it and a number of its own blowout victories When Hillhouse was upset by Career Magnet (New Haven), a team Mercy had defeated, the Tigers moved up to the No. 1 spot just after the New Year, a place they've remained since and solidified by defeating Hillhouse in the return matchup on Jan. 19, 66-62.

"We got to the LL final last year, and what's funny about that is if we graduated 10 players we'd be voted third or fourth (in the preseason) because most people who vote look at last year," Kohs said. "We moved to No. 1 after Career beat them and we've been No. 1 since, not necessarily because we're the best team. We happened to beat teams at the right time and have been able to stay there for now.

"I think the kids were excited about (being No. 1)," added Kohs, whose team is 18-1 and will be the No. 1 seed in the Southern Connecticut Conference Tournament, which starts this weekend. "We work hard, it's good to get the kids a little notoriety and attention. You can be second all year, but it's not the same as being No. 1. It hurts more if you get beat when you're No. 1. I'm not talking about the regular season. To me, the regular season means nothing. The goal for us is to win LL and be the No. 1 team at the end of the year and that's a very difficult road whether we're ranked No. 1 or whether we're ranked No. 8."



MaxPreps' Connecticut girls basketball Freeman Rankings

Mercy has outscored opponents by nearly 26 points a game (67.1-41.7). The Tigers are known for their full-court pressure, turning opponents over and scoring in transition. With a lineup whose tallest player is 5-foot-10 sophomore guard Sadie Edwards (15 points per game), running is usually the way to counter teams with a big inside presence.

Bepko, a 5-9 guard, is the team's leading scorer and rebounder (18 ppg, eight rebounds per game) with 5-5 sophomore guard Maria Weselyj adding 11 a game. Kohs has a frontcourt that includes sophomores 5-8 Cassie Santoro and 5-6 Liz Falcigno, and he gets more point production from 5-5 sophomore Jordyn Nappi (eight ppg) a streaky 3-point shooter. Sophomore Sheena Landy, a 5-9 guard converted to forward, also contributes in the seven-person rotation.

"We've been in the mix in LL for the last four or five years," said Kohs, whose been head coach at Mercy for 18 years and won the Class L title in 1996. "We got to the finals twice (2006, 2010), we've been to the semis and quarters every year. I'm not sure if (being ranked No. 1) makes that big of a difference during the tournament. During the regular season, I think you can get (opponents) that will give you a little more effort, but we've been pretty good for so long, we get that anyways. We get everybody's best shot."

Mercy won't see Hillhouse in LL because the Academics play in Class L, but they are likely to see them in the SCCs.

"When (Hillhouse's) good kids are playing well they're very difficult to beat. They're a really difficult matchup for us," Kohs said. "We need to play exceptionally well against them. For us it means playing exceptionally well and shooting the ball well. We're very perimeter-oriented. I've got three or four kids who can shoot the ball, but there's nights where two out of the three or three out of the four just have an off shooting night and it's hard to beat a good team."



Continue reading{PAGEBREAK}CLASS INDOOR TRACK CHAMPIONSHIPS HIGHLIGHTS
* Bloomfield swept the Class S boys and girls meets with 68 and 65 points, respectively, both by more than 30 points. The girls did it with wins from Rayanna Relerford in the 300 meters (41.34 seconds), Tiffany Harrison in the 600 (1:40.07), Karina Foster in the shot put (35 feet, 11 inches) and the 4x400 relay (4:06.96). They showed incredible depth, placing three in the top eight of some events multiple times. It was the same for the boys, winning the 4x400 relay (3:34.64) and getting firsts from Jamie Tobias in the high jump (6-6) and Trey Taylor in the shot put (50-5).

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* Jake Scinto of Cheshire doubled in the high jump and long jump at the SCC Tournament last week and repeated the feat at the Class LL Championships with a high jump of 6-5 and a long jump of 22-9.

* The Glastonbury girls dominated Class LL with 94 points and a winning margin of 48.5, as Lindsay Crevoiserat broke the 1,600 meet record by more than 4 seconds with a 5:00.38. In Class LL boys, Connor Rog of Fairfield Prep doubled in the 1,600 (meet record 4:21.80) and 3,200 (9:36.66).

* Kellie Davis of Hillhouse (New Haven) didn't triple at the middle distances as she did in the SCCs, but she broke the meet record in the 1,000 (2:56.34) and placed second to Jackie Nicholas of Nonnewaug (Woodbury) in the 1,600 (winning time, 5:12.68) and third to Kathleen Ferrall of Guilford in the 3,200 (11:16.19).

* Dan Nestor of Hand (Madison) set a Class L meet record in the 1,600 meters with a 4:18.17, improving on the previous mark by 4 seconds.

STORYLINES
* Gerald McClease hit the winning 3-pointer as Wilbur Cross (New Haven) upset No. 3 and previously undefeated Career (New Haven) in a 57-54 SCC Oronoque Division boys basketball victory. McClease finished with 21 points and Cross clinched a share of the Division title.



MaxPreps' Connecticut boys basketball Freeman Rankings

* No. 2 Fairfield Prep boys hockey team defeated No. 3 Hamden 4-2 in an SCC Division I game behind two goals from Donald Carnicky and a goal and assist by Bryan Puffer. Later in the week, Hamden fell to No. 1 and undefeated New Canaan 2-0 in a non-conference game.

* Xavier (Middletown) locked up the SCC Quinnipiac Division boys basketball title with a 57-53 victory over Notre Dame (West Haven) as the Falcons' Michael Boornazian scored 23 points.

* Sarah Royals of Torrington girls basketball went the length of the court with 4 seconds left and hit a 35-foot, 3-pointer as time expired to tie the Raiders' NVL game with No. 6 Holy Cross (Waterbury). She was fouled on the shot and sank the free throw for a 59-58 victory, handing the Crusaders their first loss of the season.

TOP PERFORMERS
Boys Basketball
* Terry Tarpey, Fairfield Prep: Scored 28 points in a 62-53 SCC Quinnipiac victory over West Haven, then netted 33 points and had 14 rebounds and five assists in an 88-55 SCC interdivision victory over East Haven.

* Davonta Valentine, Waterford: Scored 18 points and had 10 rebounds and eight assists in a 73-49 ECC Large Division victory over Fitch (Groton).

Girls Basketball
* Katie Mahoney, Bacon Academy (Colchester): Scored 21 points and had eight assists, seven rebounds and five steals in a 70-37 ECC Medium victory over New London as Bacon clinched the Division title.



* Cherelle Moore, Kolbe Cathedral (Bridgeport): Scored 40 points in a 76-42 SWC victory over Stratford.

Paul Rosano, the former assistant sport editor of The Hartford Courant and sports editor of The New Haven Register, covers Connecticut for MaxPreps.com. He may be reached at pjrosano@cox.net.