When the CIAC Class LL girls basketball tournament was released following the regular season, few would have thought that FCIAC foes Greenwich and Stamford would cross paths at Mohegan Sun, but each came into Sunday’s championship game seeking to win their first state title.
Behind a game-high 19 points from Alexa Kellner and 10 points from senior guard Tiana England, the Black Knights (22-3) took down Greenwich 50-45 in a game where the Lady Cardinals never went away nor gave up.
“There were first half jitters, from myself especially,” said Greenwich’s Abbie Wolf. “There were travels and we were trying to force it a little too much. They came ready to play.”
As both teams made the lengthy trip – nearly 100 miles — to Mohegan Sun Arena, the FCIAC rivals started out of the gate slow and the first quarter of play ended with Stamford out in front 10-5.
The Lady Cardinals trailed by just four points at the half, despite giving up nine points off turnovers to the No. 4 seeded Black Knights in the first half of play.
“I think at times we got into a lot of one-on-one action and we were forcing a lot of their shots,” said GHS head coach Chrys Hernandez. ”
Coming into the state postseason tournament as a No. 10 seed, Greenwich (19-4) proved why they belonged in championship contention with a strong start to the third quarter.
Seniors Wolf and Caroline Beneville knotted the game early in the second half, forcing Stamford to call a timeout and regroup.
“In the second half, we got everybody involved more,” Wolf said. “We stepped it up in the third quarter when we took the lead.”
However, the Lady Cardinals wouldn’t be able to hold on to the lead as turnovers would prove to be just as costly, if not more, in the final quarter of play. Stamford would force a total of
Behind 34-31 at the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Lady Cardinals would again give up six points off turnovers and was outscored 6-2 in second chance points. In total, Stamford forced 23 turnovers compared to the 12 they gave up.
“When they were in man defense, I think we were able to use our size and one-on-one game,” Wolf said following the game. “Then when they moved to a zone in the second half, they were getting traps and they were covering the open girl. I tried to pass it off to Emily a few times. They really used their length and they have three big girls.”
Kellner would score nine of her 19 points in the fourth quarter, leading the Black Knights to their first ever state title.
“This has been a goal of ours since I’ve been here last year,” said Kellner. “We’ve been working on it everyday. We let our defense fuel our offense. We had to box them out and we tried to get in a perfect position for those rebounds.”
In her third year at the helm for Stamford girls basketball, head coach Diane Burns reflected on how her team fought all the way to win both the FCIAC and State championships.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Stamford head coach Diane Burns. “I couldn’t be happier. Greenwich is a tough team and we knew they were going to go on a run. These girls just stuck out the game plan and continued to work hard. It was the perfect way to send them out. These guys accomplished everything they set out to accomplish this year. I couldn’t be happier for a greater group of girls.”
“The girls did an excellent job on fronting Abbie and we looked to double down on her. She’s a great basketball player and we were trying to make her job as difficult as possible. The girls really bought into that. It’s unbelievable and it wouldn’t have happened without the supporting cast I had.”
For the Lady Cardinals, Emily Anderson finished with 12 points and pulled d0wn five boards while both Beneville and Jayla Faison added seven points a piece. Wolf went 6-for-6 from the field and was one rebound short of a double-double.
On the Stamford side, Marthe Guirand added eights points and five rebounds while Brooke Kelly pitched in seven points of her own. England, who will be heading to St. John’s in the fall, added seven assists in a game where she was just as lethal passing the ball as she normally is scoring.
“What they’ve accomplished in such a short amount of time is nothing to be ashamed of,” said GHS’ Hernandez. “We’re one of more than 100 teams in Connecticut and we’re playing on the last day of the season. It would have been nice to win it, but I am very proud of them.”
To see a slideshow of photos from Sunday’s game, visit Sunday’s Photo Gallery
