E.O. Smith rallies from a 14-point halftime deficit, beats Holy Cross
NEW BRITAIN – E.O. Smith lost last year in the Class L girls basketball semifinal to Newington by a point.
The Panthers were back in the semifinal game Friday night against last year’s Class M champion Holy Cross and trailed by 14 points after the first half.
But E.O. Smith staged an impressive comeback in the second half and beat Holy Cross 66-60 behind 15 points from Lilli Clark, 14 from Paige Raynor and 13 from Maddy Hughes at New Britain High School.
“We knew we had to come out with fire, we were down 14,” Clark said. “We all wanted it, I think that fire just helped us come out strong.”
E.O. Smith will face the winner of the second Friday night game at New Britain between Windsor and Pomperaug, in the Class L championship game either March 18 or 19 at a time to be determined at Mohegan Sun Arena.
E.O. Smith (22-5) lost in the Class L semifinal last year, 35-34 to Newington while Holy Cross (21-2) beat Bacon Academy 61-38 in the finals last year.
E.O. Smith led 8-5 midway through the first quarter but Holy Cross went on a 16-0 run to take a 21-8 lead after the first quarter.
Holy Cross continued to pour it on in the second quarter and led 35-21 at halftime. Shania Howard had 13 points in the first half.
But the Panthers rallied in the third quarter to make it a game, opening the second half with a 7-0 run and eventually cutting the lead to 38-34 on a Maddy Hughes layup off an inbounds pass.
Hughes hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to cut the lead to 45-42 at the end of the third quarter.
Then E.O. Smith went ahead 46-45 when Hughes hit a layup with 6:41 left in the game.
“We created our own 14 point deficit,” E.O. Smith coach Mary Roickle said. “We came in, we rushed, we were a little nervous. We ran a defense that I felt was good for this team but when we went to our better defense in the second half, these kids stepped up to the plate.
“It’s a team. It’s not just one kid or two kids. These youngladieskepttheirheads up and never gave up.”