The
Career Magnet (New Haven) girls basketball team only played once last week. The victory the Panthers came away with was the most stunning of the early season in the state.
Led by point guard
Nicole Bentley's 10 points in the fourth quarter, then-No. 5 Career knocked off top-ranked Hillhouse (New Haven) 55-47 in a Southern Connecticut Conference interdivision game. The Academics fell to No. 3 in the poll this week as Career (5-1) moved up one spot to No. 4.
"Anytime you can get a win against a quality opponent, especially a Hillhouse with the rivalry and everything (it's good)," Career coach Kevin Walton said. "We weren't particularly happy in our last two games (including a loss to new No. 1 Mercy), so we were happy we were able to play well and come away with a victory."
Walton, who started the Career program in 1997 and is in his 13th year as varsity coach, said his team came in well-prepared for the two-time defending state champion Academics and their top players
Andreana Thomas and
Bria Holmes.
"With a team like Hillhouse, they can beat you so many different ways, we had a plan A, plan B and plan C," Walton said. "The initial plan was to play a triangle-and-two on Andriana and Bria, but because of foul trouble we had to go to a zone and then the zone seemed to work out good for us because we were able to match up with Andreana and Bria.
"We forced the other girls to beat us, take shots that they're not accustomed to taking. And we tried to make them play offensively as much as possible without Andreana and Bria touching the ball."
A pleasant surprise for Career was the point production from the 5-foot-4 senior Bentley, who finished with 15 points.
"It's something that Nicole is capable of doing, however, her style is more pass first, get her teammates involved," Walton said. "She'd rather get the assists than the points, but she took what the defense gave her. She's very adept at penetrating and getting to the rim. She was taking the shots and the shots were falling."
Bria Holmes, a 5-10 senior forward, has been the Panthers' leading scorer with 14 points a game this season, but Walton says he has received big contributions from players who don't always show up on the stat sheets.
Trinity Barnes, a 5-7 senior guard who is a defensive specialist and steady ball-handler, as well as 5-8 forward
Jasmine Claxton, 5-8 guard/forward
Ashley Franklin and 5-9 guard/forward
Nicole Anderson have all been big contributors.
"I still think Hillhouse is probably the best team in the state," said Walton, who coached Career to state championships in Class M in 2003 and Class LL in 2008.
As for the girls poll, Walton said everyone likes to see their name ranked high but he and his staff use it more as a motivator to challenge his players to focus more by telling them "you're not playing like a top team in the state, you're not practicing like a top team.
"Our goals are always the same," Walton said. "To win the Oronoque Division, to win the SCC tournament and win the state championship."
