The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Hand rolls into Class L title game
Tigers’ Martin scores 1,000th career point
WALLINGFORD » Gabby Martin, a senior guard on the Hand girls basketball team, has been waiting for this moment her entire high school career.
Martin scored a game-high 25 and had four steals to lead No. 2 Hand to a 73-40 win over No. 3 Pomperaug in a CIAC Class L semifinal game at Sheehan High on Saturday. Emma Sullivan added 12 points for the Tigers, who advanced to the Class L final and will face No. 1 seed Holy Cross on March 18 or 19 at a time to be determined at Mohegan Sun Arena. Holy Cross defeated Capital Prep 56-55 in the other semifinal.
A perfect storm of positive events led to the one-sided win. Tied at 12 with 2 minutes, 40 seconds to go in the first quarter, the Tigers (22-4) went on a 14-0 run to take control. Within that scoring run, Martin scored her 1,000th career point. A 21-0 scoring run in the second half effectively put the game away for the Tigers.
“This is so exciting,” Martin said. “The only other time we got to the final was when we won it in 1999. Before now, the furthest we ever went in the playoffs since I’ve
been playing was the quarterfinals. I dreamed about getting to the final and it’s a great feeling getting there.
“Getting my 1,000th point was great and it was cool when they stopped the game to honor me for it. But when they did that I said to my teammates we’re not done, we have a lot more game to play if we want to win. We’re not there yet.”
In the first half, Gabby Egidio made one of two free throws to cap the 14-0 run that gave the Tigers a 2612 lead with 6:50 to go in the second quarter. Prior to Egidio’s free throw, Martin made two free throws for her eighth and ninth points of the game, a 25-12 lead and her 1,000th career point.
“I was glad Gabby got that 1,000th point out of the way early,” Hand coach Tim Tredwell said. “I was worried she would be cold and wouldn’t get it until late in the game. Gabby played well and we got 100 percent effort from all our players.
“Winning this game and getting to the final probably won’t sink in until late tonight (Saturday) or on Sunday. It’s amazing knowing we’re going to the final. But today we’re going to enjoy this win.”
Hand led 41-26 at halftime. But the Panthers opened the third quarter with a 9-3 run to cut the lead to 44-35. The Tigers answered with 21 straight points for their second big scoring run of the game. A Halle Freund layup gave the Tigers a 65-35 lead early in the fourth quarter to effectively put the game away.
Maggie Lee led the Panthers (18-7) with 17 points.
“We knew coming into this game we had a tall tale ahead of us,” Pomperaug coach Joe Fortier said. “We weren’t making our layups and they went on and on and forced the tempo. We went to a zone in the third quarter. But it didn’t change anything and they continued to run and score.”
Martin enters the Class L final with 1,016 career points.