Windham keeps the faith, reaches Class M title game
HEBRON — When Windham girls basketball coach Robert Mangual gave his beginningof-the-season speech, he talked about the usual things coaches talk about, including, yes, that the goal was for the Whippets to win the conference tournament and a state championship.
“I believed with this group, we could win,” Mangual said Friday night. “I liked our chances.”
Even against undefeated East Hampton, winner of 46 straight, last year’s defending Class M champion, the Whippets kept the faith their coach had in them and did not back down. They scrapped for rebounds and loose balls. They had a 5-foot freshman guarding East Hampton’s leading scorer. Just when it looked like they were out of the Class M semifinal game, they’d hit a 3-pointer (they had nine) and be right back in the mix.
And they won. Windham beat top-seeded East Hampton 44-42 in front of a raucous standing room-only crowd at RHAM High School to go to its first state championship game since 2011. The fifth-seeded Whippets (22-5) will face No. 2 St. Paul, a 50-32 winner over Oxford in the other Class M semifinal, in the Class M championship game at Mohegan Sun either March 16 or 17 at a time to be determined.
“We were the underdogs, that’s one thing we talked about,” Mangual said. “Why not us? We were ready for them. We liked our chances.”
East Hampton (25-1) hadn’t lost since last January.
“It’s kind of mind blowing,” said junior Jaelize Rivera, who led the Whippets (22-5) with 14 points, including four 3-pointers. “We had to believe, we had to be confident. Don’t worry about the record.”
Freshman Zoee Robins, who was named the MVP of the ECC Div. II championship game, was a game-changer Friday night. All of five feet, she came off the bench and defended East Hampton junior Liana Salamone.
“She’s small, but she’s really tough and she can play defense with the best of them,” Mangual said.
Salamone had eight points through the beginning of the second quarter then didn’t score again until the end of the third quarter, when she hit a basket to give East Hampton a 30-29 lead.
“I think I was just pressuring her,” Robins said. “I’m fast, so I could just be where she is.”
Salamone ended up leading East Hampton with 18 points and Jackie Russell had 14.
The game was close throughout. The Bellringers took their biggest lead, 16-10, on a Salamone three-point play with 6:37 left in the second quarter. But Windham wouldn’t go away. Hailey Flores hit a long jumper and another freshman, Asijha Harris, had a couple of baskets and East Hampton led 22-20 at halftime.
The two teams traded baskets and leads through the third quarter. Flores opened the fourth quarter with a 3 and Windham took a 33-29 lead.
With two minutes left, Rivera hit a 3 to give the Whippets a 43-39 lead but Jackie Russell responded with a 3 for East Hampton to cut the lead to 43-42 with 31 seconds left. East Hampton was forced to foul and when Aniya Jenkins went to the line, she hit one of two shots with 8.6 seconds left.
East Hampton had chances at the end but missed and the Windham players celebrated at center court. The last time the Whippets went to the final was 2011 and they beat Weaver to win the Class M championship.
“We hoped, we believed and now it’s finally here, and we’re going to try to win it,” Rivera said.