By Hal Levy, Shore Line Newspapers
Special to MaxPreps.com
The winter sports season in Connecticut is almost over.
Girls basketball and ice hockey, boys and girls indoor track and wrestling seasons are over while boys swimming, basketball and ice hockey will conclude this week.
In girls basketball state championship play on Saturday, New Britain, Joel Barlow-Redding, Holy Cross-Waterbury and Kolbe-Bridgeport won divisional titles.
Second-seeded New Britain defended its CIAC Class LL state championship with a 54-46 win over Manchester, which had previously upset the top seed, Windsor. Sophomore guard Symone Roberts scored 25 points and earned Most Valuable Player honors for the Golden Hurricanes, who completed a 23-3 season. New Britain and Manchester had played twice during the regular season and split those games.
In Class L, Barlow won its first state title since 1995 (when coach Nikki Tataglia was a senior on the team), defeating Waterford, 45-42 as Jacqueline Shinall completed an old-fashioned three-point play with 37.4 seconds left. Shinall, who had nine points and four assists and also played terrific defense, won MVP honors for Barlow, the ninth seed. The top seed, Nonnewaug-Woodbury, had been stunned in the first round by 16th-seeded Guilford, one of Barlow's later victims. Barlow finished 20-6.
Undefeated and top-seeded Holy Cross (26-0) won the Class M title over Career-New Haven, 67-58, behind 18 points from MVP Sarah Ciarleglio. The title was the first for Holy Cross and the first-ever girls' crown by any Waterbury school.
In Class S, second-seeded Kolbe won an all-parochial school final, 67-57, over Notre Dame-Fairfield. Ashley Prim had 16 points, five assists and five steals to earn MVP honors. Kolbe went 23-3.
Fillmore Leads Connecticut at New England Gymnastics Competition
Connecticut dominated the New England gymnastics championships. Kasey Fillmore of Killingly won the all-around title with a meet record 38.800 and Southington took the team title with a meet record 152.825.
State gymnasts won all the individual titles. Fillmore was first on the bars with a 9.875. Kristy Dougan of Southington won the floor exercise (9.725) and the balance beam (9.775) and Yvette Mirando of Southington took the vault (9.750).
At the CIAC state open, Fillmore and Killingly teammate Justine Basley were tops. Basley won the all-around with a 38.575 to top Fillmore's 39.550.
Basley won the beam (9.700) while Fillmore took the bars (9.850) and floor exercise (9.750) and Mirando captured the vault (9.825).
In state team championships, Southington won Class L with a 150.425. Daniel Hand-Madison was a surprise winner in Class M (124.80) narrowly defeating a field in which the top five schools had 123.70 or better. Killingly (141.50) was an easy winner in Class S.
Hepburn Goes Back-to-Back
Ledyard's T.J. Hepburn became the fifth Connecticut wrestler to win consecutive New England titles when he beat Chad Jaramillo of Bridgewater-Raynham (Mass.), 12-0, in the 140-pound finals. Hepburn, who shared tourney MVP honors with D.J. Meagher of Bow, New Hampshire, won at 135 last year. Orville Palmer (Middletown, 1994. 1995) was the last to turn the trick.
As a team, Danbury finished third in the region with 51 points. The meet was won by Lowell, Mass. with 73 points. Salem, N.H. was second with 52.5.
Hepburn became the 12the even to win three consecutive state open titles when he won that championship at 140 and also took the fastest fall award (three pins in 5:44).
Danbury won the Open team title with 140 points.
In state divisional championships, Danbury won Class LL with 231 points and the Hatters' 171-pounder, Richie Zschoche was the fastest fall winner with three pins in 5:23.
In Class L, Middletown's 178.5 points was enough for a state crown with Brendan Ivan of Bethel winning the fastest fall award with four pins in 10:49.
In Class M, Ledyard won with 203.5 points and Monville's Patrick Ryan was the fast fall champ with three pins in 2:33.
In Class S, it was Griswold winning with 197.5 points. Tyler Foley of Thomaston pinned five opponents in 7:26 to win the fastest fall award.
Weaver-Hartford, Danbury Take Indoor Track Titles
In indoor track, the Weaver-Hartford girls and the Danbury boys were state open champs. Weaver scored 47 points to edge Glastonbury (44) while on the boys' side, Danbury scored 56 to beat Glastonbury (44) as well.
Brookfield senior Lauren Tanz was the lone double winner in the girls' meet, taking the 55-meter hurdles in 0:08.27 and winning the long jump at 18-6.5.
For the boys, Hillhouse-New Haven senior sprinter Terrell Wilks won the 55-meter dash in 0:06.39 and the 300-meter dash in 0:34.69. Glastonbury junior Don Cabral won the 1600-meters in 4:17.63 and the 3200-meters in 9:26.54.
In divisional championships, Glastonbury (77 points) won the Class LL girls' meet with Danbury (107 points) taking the boys' meet.
East Lyme (108) won the girls' Class L title and Staples-Westport (49) was the boys' champ.
In Class M, the Weaver girls (91) prevailed while the boys were led by Darien (69 points).
Weston swept Class S with the girls scoring 79 and the boys, 81.
Girls Hockey Playoffs Taking Root
While girls ice hockey is not an official CIAC sport (not enough schools participate), the state's coaches organized a playoff system. The two state conferences, the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference and the Central Connecticut Girls' Hockey League, each came up with two teams which went into state semifinal play.
The FCIAC representatives were league champ New Canaan and runner-up Ridgefield.
The CCGHL conducted its own tournament with every team eligible. Regular-season champ Guilford got a bye while in first-round play, second-seeded West Hartford defeated Hamden, 8-0, third seeded Daniel Hand-Madison topped Hamden, 3-1 and fourth seed Simsbury defeated Notre Dame-Fairfield.
In the semifinals, Hand halted West Hartford, 3-2, to earn one state semifinal spot and Guilford beat Simsbury, 5-1. Guilford then topped Hand, 3-0, in the league finals.
At the state level, New Canaan beat Hand, 4-0, in one semifinal and Guilford avenged a regular-season, 4-2, loss with a 4-1 win over Ridgefield in the other.
New Canaan got a goal from Xandra Hompe four minutes into overtime to win the title, 2-1, and complete an undefeated (24-0) season. Guilford finished 19-3. Hompe, a junior forward, completed her year with 46 goals and 50 assists in 24 games.
