The Undefeated Season Continues for Coginchaug

When the buzzer sounded Friday night the Coginchaug Blue Devils had earned yet another win, a 59-47 victory over the Cromwell Panthers. 

In hopes of continuing their undefeated season, the Devils came out leading the Panthers by twenty points at halftime, 44-24.

“The first half we executed exactly as we had practiced,” said coach Rett Mancincelli. “It’s great when that happens.”

Coginchaug scored 20 points in the first quarter and 24 points in the second quarter, and the coach was pleased with the girl’s performance in the first half. The two high scorers of the game were seniors Audrey Biesak with 17 points and Sam Mancinelli with 16.

“We shot the ball very well offensively which allowed us to have a hiccup in the second half."

Evenly matched in both speed and size, the players on both sides played a highly aggressive game. Cromwell played a 1-2-2 defense in hopes of limiting the amount of perimeter shots, while Coginchaug played a tough man-to-man half court defense.

“They are a lot bigger then we are,” said Mancinelli, “but we executed defensively and our post defenders did a great job containing their bigs.” 

Cromwell came out strong in the second half, tightening the score and limiting Coginchaug to only 15 points in the third and fourth quarter.

Fortunately, the Blue Devils were able to maintain the lead and walk away with their tenth consecutive win (10-0).

Due to the fact that both teams were highly successful last year with Cromwell’s win over Portland in the Class S State Championship and Coginchaug’s win over Portland in the Shoreline title game, this well anticipated matchup drew quite the crowd with almost every seat in the gym filled.

The Blue Devils move on to play Morgan away on Monday, Jan. 16 and home against Portland on Thursday, January 19. 

“This is a tough three game stretch for us right here,” said Mancincelli. “We are ready to go.”