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."

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