East Hampton escapes Valley Regional for first title since ’80
UNCASVILLE – The first time the East Hampton and Valley Regional girls basketball teams played this season, East Hampton won by over 20 points.
The second time, it was a five-point margin.
Saturday’s Class M state championship game was closest yet between the two Shoreline Conference teams. But it was the same result – top-seeded East Hampton defeated No. 3 Valley Regional 31-29 at Mohegan Sun Arena. It was the first state title for the Bellringers since 1980.
Valley’s defense stifled East Hampton’s two top scorers, sophomore Liana Salamone and junior Jackie Russell, who still managed 12 and 10 points, respectively. But the two contributed in other ways – Salamone with 10 rebounds and Russell with a big layup with less than two minutes to give East Hampton a 30-27 lead. Amber Murphy, who had two points, hit a go-ahead layup with 2:50 left.
“It feels amazing,” Salamone said. “I’m so happy we pulled through. It was our defense and people finding other options other than me or Jackie to score, which they did.”
Valley Regional (21-5) was led by Olivia Cunningham, who had 10 points, and Regan Grow, who had 13 rebounds and five blocks.
“They’re a tremendous team,” Valley coach Jaimie Bickelhaupt said. “They’re extremely disciplined and coached well. Our game plan was to shut down Liana and Jackie and we did a great job. Some other girls stepped up for them in key moments. That’s where our defensive lapses were.
“We did our job on the two we thought were going to hurt us, but they’re a great team and they showed resiliency.”
The game was close throughout. Valley led 11-7 after the first quarter and 16-15 at halftime. With 2:50 left in the game, Grow hit a jump shot to give Valley a 27-26 lead but Murphy’s shot put East Hampton ahead.
“For me, I could not be more proud of these kids,” said East Hampton coach Shaun Russell, who has coached for 26 years. “The relationships that are formed over 26 years, with these kids, there were so many alumni here … it’s super gratifying to beat a tough team three times this year for all the marbles.
“The game plan was to tough it out. I thought we did a great job of that.”