By Hal Levy, Shore Line Newspapers
Special to MaxPreps.com
The CIAC’s four girls’ basketball championship games were played Saturday at Central Connecticut State University and each was a close contest.
In Class LL, Career-New Haven won its first title and denied New Britain its third straight, 71-66, as University of Hartford-bound Ilicia Mathis won MVP honors with a 40-point, 13-rebound, four-steal performance which trumped the 36 points scored by New Britain junior Symone Roberts, who also had seven rebounds and five assists.
Mathis was 13-for-25 from the floor, 13-for-15 at the foul line and had 17 points in the fourth quarter when the Panthers overcame a 54-46 deficit. Gabby Oglesby, who will play next year at Central Connecticut, had 16 points and 20 rebounds for Career while juniors Anisha Williams (11 points) and J’Voni Hilton (11 rebounds) also contributed. Tyler Kimball had 17 points and 20 rebounds for the Golden Hurricanes.
In Class L, Kolbe Cathedral-Bridgeport junior guard Ashley Prim scored 21 points to earn the MVP award in a 59-48 win over East Lyme. That was the only game decided by more than six points.
Kolbe which moved up from Class S, where it won last year, because of a new system for placing teams which most affected parochial schools, now has four championships in the last five years.
The Cougars and Vikings were tied at 43 with 6:08 to play, but Kolbe got 16 of the game’s final 21 points. The Kolbe defense also forced 36 turnovers. Ryann Simmons had 15 points in a reserve role for the Cougars while East Lyme was led by Emily Walker with 17, Jessica Blodgett with 11 and Carly Thibault (the daughter of Connecticut Sun coach Mike Thibault) with 10.
In Class M, Avon junior Lindsay Horbatuck had 14 points, 21 rebounds and six assists, and won the MVP award, as her team edged The Morgan School-Clinton, 50-46.
Avon was down 37-29 going into the fourth quarter, but Horbatuck had seven points and eight rebounds in the decisive frame. She finished the game with 11 offensive rebounds. Jenni Marcus had 12 points and Samantha Riccio 11 for Avon. Michelle Santamaria had 13 points and six rebounds for the Huskies.
The Class S title went to Bloomfield, 45-39 over Coventry. MVP Shanielle Duncan-Clarke put on a show, particularly in the fourth quarter when the Warhawks overcame a 31-27 lead.
Bloomfield was actually down, 26-15 at the half. The 5-foot-3 Duncan-Clarke finished with 28 points, 15 rebounds, six steals and went 9-for-11 at the foul line. In the final period, she scored 12, had four steals and four rebounds and made 5-of-6 from the line. Bloomfield, seeded 19th, also got eight points and 14 rebounds from Ericka Sagay. For the Patriots, Kaitlyn Caldwell had 16 points and eight steals and Kelly Myers had five points and 18 rebounds.
Gura, Kraft, Johnson, Nicolari Honored by State Committee
The CIAC girls’ basketball committee honored some heavyweights Saturday morning before its state championship quadruple-header at Central Connecticut State University.
The tournament was dedicated to long-time Shelton coach Howie Gura while awards of merit went to official Cheryl Kraft, athletic director Dave Johnson and coach Bernice Nicolari.
Gura is a long-time friend (we both lived in J.P. Morgan House in the Towers quadrangle at UConn) who coached and taught in Shelton for 36 years. His 328-204 record in 18 years as Shelton’s girls’ basketball coach included a 1985 state title and he is a member of the New Haven Tap-Off Club Hall of Fame as well as a former CHSCA coach of the year.
Kraft has been an official for more than 20 years in high school and college settings. Also a tri-athlete and marathon runner, she works as a clinical manager at Connecticut Valley Hospital for the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services.
Johnson has been a coach and athletic director at Bunnell-Stratford since 1981, during which time athletic programs and facilities have expanded greatly. He is an award-winning coach of track, basketball (boys and girls) and cross country, is a former president of the Connecticut Association of Athletic Directors and serves as CAAD’s awards chair as well as being its representative to the CIAC’s football committee.
Nicolari developed the women’s sports program at Shelton, coaching basketball there from 1962 to 1979 with a 214-53 record, a CIAC state title in 1976 (when Shelton was ranked 12th in the country) and seven Housatonic League titles. She has been a CHSCA and New Haven Tap-Off Club coach of the year and in 1986 the CHSCA named its Class LL most valuable player award in her honor. She is a member of five halls of fame and is the author of five books, with a sixth one in the works.
Guilford, New Canaan Girls Play (and Play and Play and Play) in Hockey Semis
Guilford and New Canaan played into a fifth overtime in their semi-final game in the girls’ state ice hockey tournament last week.
The sport does not yet have official CIAC recognition since it does not quite have the required number of participants nor teams (it will within a couple of years) so the state coaches put together their own event, taking the top four teams from the Fairfield County and Central Connecticut girls’ hockey leagues.
Regular-season and league tournament champ Guilford plus Hamden, Simsbury and West Hartford represented the CCGHL and tourney champ St. Joseph/Amity Regional, Greenwich, New Canaan and Ridgefield were the FCIAC representatives.
In the semi-finals, played at Yale’s Ingalls Rink, New Canaan scored less than a minute into the fifth overtime to upset Guilford, 4-3. It was decided when Annie Armhein's skate-deflected shot from the left wing found its way into the net. Guilford had only one loss all year to that point (to Hamden, a setback it avenged twice later on) and had beaten the Rams in the regular season.
Guilford coach, Tom Sheridan said, “There wasn’t a dry eye in the house. It was a great game. Even though we lost, you had to enjoy the game. Any fan that watched the game and didn’t enjoy it just isn’t a sports fan.”
New Canaan went on to shut out Greenwich, 3-0, in the final to win its second successive title. Last year, New Canaan (24-0), beat Guilford, 2-1, in the championship game … in overtime, but only one.
