Coginchaug Girls End Season with Loss, But Dignity

By Alan Pease

On Friday, March 1st, the Lady Devils traveled to Fairfield to visit the second seeded Lady Lancers of Notre Dame.  The Lancers had two common opponents with Coginchaug, Kolbe Cathedral, who Coginchaug beat and Notre Dame had one of their three losses to, and Morgan, who Coginchaug lost to twice by double digit margins, and Notre Dame beat by ten.  So comparisons were inconclusive and probably meaningless – the issue would be decided on the court. 

With Coginchaug again running a very deliberate offense, similar to the Cromwell game, the Lady Lancers struck first, scoring a two, then a three wrapped around a single free throw by Audrey Arcari.  Jessica Solomon scored the first field goal for Coginchaug almost half-way through the period, but almost two minutes later, Notre Dame scored to make it a 7-3 game.  After a Kate Williams rebound, she dished to Kim Romanoff who scored with two minutes left in the period.  Mikayla Wyskiel scored with less than a minute left to knot the score, and Morgan Kuehnle dropped in a rebound put-back to give the Devils their first lead, 9-7, that they ended the first period with. 

Coginchaug was one for four from the charity stripe. 

The Devils got off to a relatively quick start, as Solomon scored twice, both times assisted by Arcari, and Olivia Corazzini dropped in a trey that had the Devils fans going wild.  The Lancers scored two buckets wrapped around a single Corazinni free throw to make it a 17-9 lead for the Devils, but had an 8-5 flurry in the last two minutes to make the Devils lead at the half 22-19.  Williams and Romanoff had buckets, and Solomon hit one from the line to keep the Devils ahead.

Coginchaug was two for six from the charity stripe, three for ten cumulatively.

The third period was a back and forth affair, with the teams trading baskets back and forth, but only after running offense for a while, with the Devils never surrendering the lead.  Corazinni scored four in the period, and Kuehnle, Arcari and Williams each scored two to allow the Devils to increase the lead by one, 32-28.

Coginchaug was zero for four from the charity stripe, three for fourteen for the game so far.

The Devils managed to keep things on an even keel through the first four minutes as two basket by Kuehnle and another by Williams offset three Lancer buckets, one from beyond the arc, leaving Coginchaug still ahead by a 38-35 count.  But Notre Dame hit both ends of a one-and-one, then dropped in a three to take the lead with just under three minutes left.  From that point on, the Devils were zero for nine from the field, and one for six from the line, while the Lancers had one long pass for a basket, and were nine for seventeen from the line to take away a 49-39 victory.  I may look like a double digit win for Notre Dame on the scoreboard, but I’m certain that the Lancers know that they were lucky to escape with the win, and advance to the quarter finals. 

Coginchaug was one for nine from the charity stripe for the period, making them four for twenty-three for the game.  Enough said about that.

No, wait, I lied.  Coach Rett Mancinelli told me early in the season that this team would have three issues, rebounding, free throw shooting, and field goal percentage.  They did fine on the rebounding front, with a 33-32 advantage over Notre Dame, and in field goal percent, I think to a large extent due to the deliberate style that they obviously decided was there best option against a high caliber team.  But the free throws really did them in – even 65% from the line would have tied the game, and without the need to foul at the end, the outcome could have been completely different.

Morgan Kuehnle and Olivia Corazinni led the Devils with eight points, with Morgan also leading the team in rebounds with eleven.  Morgan also had two blocks, a steal and an assist, while Olivia added a rebound.  Jessica Solomon scored seven points, and grabbed five rebounds.  She led the team in blocks with three, and added a steal and an assist.  As she has all season, Jessica also played some dynamite defense on the interior, doing the things that don’t show up on the stat sheet, but help her team win.  Kim Romanoff did the majority of the ball handling, sowing off some truly slick moves against the pressure, while scoring five points, grabbing five rebounds and adding three assists and three steals.  Audrey Arcari pulled in five rebounds, adding three points, three assists and a steal. 

Off the bench, Katelyn Williams scored six, adding four rebounds and an assist.  Mikayla Wyskiel scored two points, and Sydney Trusty had two rebounds.

A quick note that every single one of the teams that the Devils lost two this year has advanced to the quarter final round in the state tournament, Cromwell, Notre Dame and H-K in class M, and Morgan and Thomaston in class S.  There are even two teams that Coginchaug beat during the year that play on, Valley and Hyde, both in class S.

Coginchaug finished the season with a total record of 15-9, advancing to the second round of both the Shoreline tournament and the state tournament. Although they lose their sole senior, Jessica Solomon, next year, and will need to replace her defensive prowess, next season looks promising, especially if the team can improve their free throws over the off-season.

CRHS Varsity Girls' Basketball 2011/2012 Points

Date

Opponent

Time

For

Against

League

NL

12/5/2012

Kolbe

7:30 p.m.

69

62 

Win

12/8/2012

Valley

7:15 p.m.

48

28

Win 

12/11/2012

@ Hyde

7:30 p.m.

51

41

Win 

12/14/2012

Hale Ray

7:30 p.m.

49

12

Win 

12/18/2012

@ Westbrook

7:30 p.m.

46

27

Win 

12/21/2012

North Branford

7:30 p.m.

46

35

Win 

12/28/2012

@ Thomaston

7:00 p.m.

41

54 

Loss

1/2/2013

Old Saybrook

7:00 p.m.

53

38

Win 

1/4/2013

@ Cromwell

7:30 p.m.

30

45

Loss 

1/8/2013

@ H-K

7:00 p.m.

33

49

Loss 

1/11/2013

Old Lyme

7:30 p.m.

42

32

Win 

1/14/2013

Morgan

7:30 p.m.

37

61

Loss 

1/17/2013

@ Portland

5:30 p.m.

47

31

Win 

1/21/2013

East Hampton

2:00 p.m.

46

24

Win 

1/29/2013

@ North Branford

5:30 p.m.

43

31

Win 

1/31/2013

@ Valley

7:00 p.m.

47

28

Win 

2/4/2013

@ Old Saybrook

7:00 p.m.

51

28

Win 

2/7/2013

Cromwell

7:30 p.m.

40

67

Loss 

2/13/2013

H-K

7:30 p.m.

39

43

Loss 

2/14/2013

@ Morgan

7:00 p.m.

44

73

Loss 

Wins

Losses

League Record

12

6

*Non-League Record

1

1

Season Record

13

7

Shoreline Tournament

2/16/2013

SLC Qtr Hyde

7:30 p.m.

51

43

Win 

2/19/2013

SLC Semi Cromwell

7:30 p.m.

34

39

Loss 

State Tournament

2/26/2013

Cls M R1 Bullard Havens Tech

7:00 p.m.

69

27 

Win

3/1/2013

R2 @ Notre Dame Fairfield

7:00 p.m.

39

49

Loss

Combined Record

15

9