Plenty of rest for Class S finalists
The CIAC hosted the girls basketball state championship luncheon Wednesday with players and coaches from every state finalist coming together at the Aqua Turf Club in Plantsville for a chance to meet the media and kickoff championship weekend.
The state basketball championship will be this weekend at Mohegan Sun Arena but before you go, check out a few stories from the luncheon.
Two Weeks Notice
Both Class S finalists Kolbe Cathedral and Northwest Catholic had nearly two weeks off prior to the state tournament after each missed qualifying for their respective conference tournaments.
Both head coaches gave the players a few days off, then returned to practice with a renewed focus knowing that deep runs in the Class S tournament were possible.
“We had a practice the day after our last regular season game and talked about refocusing on defense and rebounding, things of that nature, then we took a couple of days off,” Kolbe Cathedral coach Lisa Hodges said. “When they came back, it was time to get ready to do what we have to do. We had 10 days to work on it and started working on it and the team started to gel and bond.”
The No. 16 seed Kolbe had to defeat No. 1 Bolton in the second round and No. 8 Coventry in the quarterfinals, both games they were trailing by double-digits before coming back to win.
They rolled to a 64-35 win over No. 4 Windham Tech in the semifinals.
No. 10 Northwest Catholic rolled through its first three rounds, including a win over No. 2 Thomaston, before winning a 6556 decision over No. 3 Somers in the semifinals.
“We gave them a few days off and hit the reset button after the regular season,” Northwest coach Alison Connors said. “We did a few team activities, a few dinners, just trying to keep them loose and give them some time to reflect on the season. The two weeks were as productive as two weeks off in the middle of the season could be. It was a good break but when they saw the brackets, the girls got excited again and started talking about basketball all the time and saw there was a pathway to getting here.”
New school, same coach
Tammy Millsaps had a chance to go coach in college when she left Capital Prep, after guiding the Trailblazers to the Class S championship in 2013 and Class L championships from 2014-16, each time finishing ranked No. 1 in the GameTimeCT Poll.
Instead, she stayed at the high school level, taking over as the New London head coach prior to last season. She is now back in a state championship, this time leading the Whalers to the Class MM title game against Mercy.
“When I left I had the option to move to the collegiate level but decided New London was a good, solid place,” Millsaps said. “I had no idea I would have to deal with the adversity of seven kids on the team. But we are here. I think one of the awesome things in life is when you can reflect and say, ‘this is not what I wanted, I wanted the grass to be greener on the other side, but as long as I can water the grass, I can make it work.’”
In her first season, New London had nine players. This year the team has just seven players on the varsity and no JV team to pull from.
Millsaps said that fact only made the team stronger with every player knowing they will have to contribute.
Shostak Steps Up
When All-State guard
Kaleigh Sommers went down with an ankle injury in the FCIAC championship game, her teammates rallied to win the game and the first league title in school history.
Soon after Ludlowe got the news that Sommers, the 6-foot senior guard, would miss the Class LL tournament as well.
With five other senior on the roster, players like Rory Kudzy, Madison Roman and Caitlin Finnegan took turns stepping up in clutch moments, but the key to the Falcons run to the Class LL final might be in junior Phoebe Shostak.
Shostak was an important piece to Falcons success before Sommers went down, but since has been instrumental in filling Sommers position on the wing as a guard who can shoot and drive, including scoring 14 points in the semifinal win over Newtown.
“Phoebe is a remarkable athlete and a wonderful basketball player,” Ludlowe coach Sara Kinsley said. “When she got the confidence from her teammates and knew she had to give everything she had, not just for Kaleigh but for our team, she never missed a beat and she stepped right into that role. We are so proud of her and she just has been playing great and hopefully she it keeps going.”