The Greenwich High School girls’ basketball team survived a furious comeback by Southington in the second round of the CIAC class LL tournament and came away with the 56-52 victory Thursday night.
“Going into this game, we knew their big three [Janette Wadolowski, Natalie Wadolowski, Margaret Meehan] were going to look to carry them and get the job done, so we kind of challenged ourselves and wanted to attack right away and set the tone,” Greenwich High School head coach Chrys Hernandez said. “And we did that. The moment we had coming in here allowed us to produce the points that we scored.”
Big Red was led by Caroline Beneville, who finished with 11 of her 18 points in the first half.
“It feels really good and it’s really exciting to play either Fairfield Ludlowe or Fairfield Warde in the next round,” Beneville said. “It was big to get the early lead because it gave us a lot of confidence going into the second quarter. It helped us know they are beatable and we could continue doing what we were doing. Even when they came back, we still had that knowledge that we were capable of going up by so much so we could hold onto the lead.”
In addition to Beneville’s performance, Abbie Wolf was lights out, netting 18 points, 12 rebounds and six blocks.
“This win was huge,” Wolf said. “I came out and told the girls that I didn’t want to hear any excuses. Not a long bus ride, not their home court or that we showed up late. We had to come out strong and I was really proud of everybody that they stepped up. We need to learn to keep our poise in the second quarter when a team comes back, but we did a good job in the fourth quarter.”
Jayla Faison added seven points, but also pitched in with nine rebounds. Kim Kockenmeister contributed with eight points, while Emily Anderson rounded out the scoring with three points.
“This feels great,” Kockenmeister said. “We were definitely the underdogs coming in and we definitely proved that we were able to pressure and get that win. I think we deserved the win. Starting off strong and getting that lead definitely helped us a lot, but we settled and that made it hard for us because they came back.”
For the Blue Knights, no one was better than Janette Wadolowski, who finished with a game-high 28 points. Sarah Minklewicz and Margaret Meehan each netted five points, while Natalie Wadolowski pitched in with four.
After easily taking care of Avon in the class LL opening round game at home, Big Red hit the road and silenced the Southington crowd early. Despite the long bus ride from Greenwich and showing up with only 20 minutes before tip, the Lady Cardinals completely controlled the game, racing out to a big lead.
With less than six minutes to play in the first, Kockenmeister grabbed the offensive rebound and putback to give Greenwich the 8-3 lead. A layup in the paint by Wolf, a baseline three-pointer by Beneville with 3:13 and a layup on Kockenmeister off a fast break extended the lead to 15-5.
Greenwich ended the first quarter on a 9-1 run. Kockenmeister started the run with a layup in the paint.
After Southington’s Kayla Kavanagh went 1-for-2 from the line with 1:32 left in the quarter, Wolf drained a layup and Beneville followed it up with another three-pointer. After Wolf hit two foul shots to end the quarter, Greenwich built a 24-8 lead.
“When you’re on the road and in someone else’s gym, it’s tough,” Hernandez said. “Southington is a good team and it just gives us the added momentum and energy to knock down those shots early and let us know that we can find our comfort zone.”
Big Red added to its lead to start the second, courtesy of Wolf, who sank the baseline reverse layup and drained both her foul shots on Big Red’s next possession to make the score 28-8.
While it appeared that the rout was on, someone must have forgot to tell the Blue Knights, who came all the way back to trail Greenwich 31-26 at the break.
During that run, it was Janette Wadolowski who stood out. After Natalie Wadolowski hit both her foul shots, a jumper and long distance two by Janette Wadolowski made the score 28-14.
Greenwich temporary stopped the bleeding when Beneville calmly sank a baseline three-pointer with 3:15 to play in the half, but Southington kept coming on strong, finishing out the half on a 12-0 run.
Hartlee Meier started the run with a three-pointer and Meehan grabbed the offensive rebound and putback on Southington’s next possession. Janette Wadolowski hit the baseline jumper with 1:16 left.
Meier hit her first foul shot and although she missed the second, Southington grabbed the rebound and Janette Wadolowski nailed the foul line jumper. She also connected on the offensive rebound and putback with barely any time on the clock to help trim the GHS lead to 31-26 at the break.
“They did a great job on the offensive glass and getting a lot of easy putbacks,” Hernandez said. “And credit to them because we didn’t box out. It was the second chance opportunities that was allowing them to get easy putbacks and also get on the line. The points they scored in the first half were a lot of foul shots. So we focused on boxing out in the second half.”
And it started to pay off, as Big Red built a seven point lead after Beneville sank the three ball off the inbounds pass from Anderson. Despite the improved defense, Greenwich went ice cold from the field the rest of the quarter, getting outscored 10-2.
With 1:13 to play in the third, Janette Wadolowski hit two foul shots and gave the Blue Knights its first lead of the game at 39-38.
“Southington is a good team and we had the chance to come up here and scout them against Norwalk,” Hernandez said. “We knew what they were capable of, knew they had outside shooters. We knew it wasn’t going to be an easy game and they went to work.”
Big Red put the game away for good late in the fourth. Up 46-43, Greenwich went on a mini 6-0 run, as Kockenmeister hit two foul shots and a layup in the paint and Wolf calmly drained two foul shots to make the score 52-43.
“The fourth quarter we came out and said that all we need was eight more minutes,” Wolf said. “We put it together. We focused and were in a zone. We pulled it out with our free throws and clutch shots. It hasn’t even hit me that any game could be my last one because I’m so focused on winning the game. We’re staying alive and I plan on playing three more games.”
