New London boys open season with 57-54 win over rival NFA
Norwich — Opening day is supposed to be hard, especially in the case of the Norwich Free Academy girls' basketball team, which spent the bulk of the preseason practicing virtually and had only seen actual court time for the last week.
And then NFA senior Sarah Ericson,
especially, made things look easy Friday night in the third-ranked Wildcats' season-opening 66-42 victory over Eastern Connecticut Conference Division I rival New London, ranked fifth in the state. Ericson, previously known more as a 3-point shooter, finished with 27 points in the win, 16 points in a third quarter in which she glided over pretty much every spot on the floor.
"I feel like it's taken Sarah four years to realize how good she is offensively," NFA coach Courtney Gomez said. "She worked really, really hard this summer in terms of eating differently, working in the weight room ..."
Gomez had a talk with Ericson, slated to play beginning next season at Division II St. Thomas Aquinas in Sparkill, N.Y. If you want to be great, you need to be in great shape.
"She's able to make shots when she's tired," Gomez said of the new version of Ericson. "And she's not stopping shooting after she misses the first two. Last year I'd have to beg her to keep shooting."
“Coach Gomez helped me a lot,” Ericson said. “I never realized the difference between what you eat before the game, a protein bar or a turkey sandwich or something, just to get some protein in me . ... I put in a lot of work. The preparation gives me confidence more than anything.”
In addition to Ericson, Anajah Ingram finished with 16 points for the Wildcats and Jenissa Varela had 12.
Nalyce Dudley had 15 points and Jayden Burns 13 for New London, playing for the first time under coach Tammy Millsaps.
Gomez said when she looked up at the scoreboard for the final margin, she was shocked to see that the Wildcats, who graduated seven seniors and lost another starter to the prep school ranks, had 66 points. NFA, 20-5 last season, and New London, 18-5, shared the ECC Division I regular-season title in 2020 before NFA emerged to win the league's Division I tournament at Mohegan Sun Arena.
"Did we score 66 points at all last year?" Gomez said of Friday's game, which was played at an energetic pace on both sides. "I don't even know if we did . ... That's the New London-NFA rivalry. Whether there's zero people in the stands ... it's always been competitive."
NFA began its breakaway with .4 seconds remaining in the first quarter when Ericson was knocked to the ground in mid-3-point field goal, hitting the free throw to complete a four-point play and give the Wildcats a 19-12 lead.
NFA was able to stretch the lead to 10 in the low-scoring second quarter on a threepoint play by Varela, making it 26-16, but New London got three back on a long-range shot by Dudley to beat the buzzer.
The third quarter belonged to Ericson. First, she helped fuel an 11-2 NFA run with seven points, including a 3. That run was capped by a two free throws by Varela.
Ericson then added a pair of three-point plays to push the lead to 43-25 with 2:45 remaining in the third and added a 3-point dagger at the buzzer for a 50-33 advantage.
"It's been a long time since we played," said Ericson, referring to the delay of the winter season due to the COVID-19 crisis. "I think we played knowing no game is guaranteed and we just had fun."
"I think the effort is good," Millsaps said of New London, which has only one returning starter in Burns. "We're still getting to that point where we know what it means to give 100%, 100% in practice not just in games.
“I liked our kids' overall effort . ... We still need to find someone who can be confident at the offensive end of the floor and make easy shots around the basket."