Sports: New London girls win ECC tournament title, end NFA’s five-year reign
New London ends NFA’s five-year reign and wins first ECC tourney title since 1998
Norwich — It was a week's time in which New London coach Holly Misto, already the mayor of all things defense, did a lot of studying, figuring out how to turn last Tuesday's loss to Norwich Free Academy into an Eastern Connecticut Conference tournament girls' basketball championship.
"I watched GameDay (the video of last week's game) 15 times and decided what we needed to do defensively, how to stop (Norwich Free Academy's Hailey) Conley," Misto said Wednesday night. "We did some different things defensively."
Second-seeded New London toppled No. 1 NFA 53-39 Wednesday night for the ECC Division I tournament title in a charged atmosphere at NFA, giving New London its first such championship since the 1998 season and ending a five-year hold on the title by NFA.
It was the one thing New London's seniors, part of the resurgence of a Whalers' program which has been to two state championships games in three years, were missing. And the seniors, led by Most Outstanding Player India Pagan with 14 points and 12 rebounds, had their fingerprints all over the victory.
Pagan and fellow senior Jada Lucas (12 points) were named to the Division I all-tournament team along with teammate Spencer Roman, who defended Conley from the second quarter on, and NFA's Conley (17 points, 13 in the first quarter) and Mackenzie Burke (13 points).
Conley scored 41 points, tying a school record with seven 3-pointers, in a semifinal win Saturday over Bacon Academy.
"Knowing this is me and Jada's last one, we just wanted to put it all out on the floor," Pagan said. "It means so much. Playing here four years and coming so close every year. It did feel bad (to lose in the tournament previously), but my favorite saying is everything happens for a reason. That made us even stronger for this moment."
The game was tied 15-15 after one quarter Wednesday when Pagan began to assert her will on the game. She scored six points in the final 2:39 of the second quarter to finish the
first half with 12, the final two coming on a putback at the buzzer.
Pagan's dominance was doubled by the addition of her sister Tai, a sophomore who joined her in the frontcourt for a good portion of the game. In case one Pagan wasn't enough, there was a younger version of India contributing too, with India finding Tai for a layup as the Whalers began to pull away.
NFA, meanwhile, was without freshman center Makayla Poirier-Vaughters, who sustained what coach Bill Scarlata called a concussion early in the game. Scarlata said Poirier-Vaughters was on her way to the hospital following the game to have her injury checked further and would likely be out for the remainder of the season as the Wildcats move on to the Class LL state tournament.
Scarlata said, however, that New London was simply better than it was in last week's 59-51 NFA victory over the Whalers.
“They were much better than us tonight. I thought India was spectacular,” Scarlata said. “I was surprised, it was 17-17 and they scored the last 11 points of the half; we got terrificly outplayed, but other than the free throws at the end, we stayed with them.
“I thought their defense was spectacular. The teams in Class LL are all pretty good. But if they play like that, they could hang with anyone . ... I told my kids, ‘They're going to come after you from the beginning.' I'm not sure they believed me, but we took a step back and they played well.”
New London outscored NFA 13-2 in the second quarter to lead 28-17 at halftime.
It was 35-24 in New London's favor after three quarters, with the Whalers getting contributions from Roman, who hit a jump shot from the left corner, and Leilani McClellan, with a 3-pointer.
Pagan ripped down an offensive rebound and converted 17 seconds into the fourth quarter for a 37-24 lead. NFA could get no closer than nine in the final minutes, as New London went 7-for-7 from the free throw line in the last 2:26.
Misto gave Lucas and Pagan a breather from time to time during the game.
“It's hot in here. Plus the excitement,” Pagan said. “It's my last ECC. I want to be able to go all out. You're a senior. You're never going to get this back . ... We knew we had it in us.”
“My kids were really focused for today,” Misto said. “They were not happy they lost (last week). They were not happy with the way they lost. They practiced well. They were focused. This is their win. They worked really hard for it.”