A look at Saturday’s title games

The CIAC boys and girls basketball championships will take place this weekend at Mohegan Sun Arena with five boys and girls games on Saturday and five on Sunday.

Here’s a quick look at Saturday’s matchups:

Class M girls No. 5 Windham (22-4) vs. No. 2 St. Paul (23-3), 10 a.m.:

Scrappy Windham knocked off last year’s Class M champion and top-seeded East Hampton, winner of 46 straight, in the semifinal game and what will the Whippets do for an encore? St. Paul is a good defensive team who knocked off Class L finalist Holy Cross in the NVL championship game. The Falcons have not won a title since 2010, Windham last won in 2011.

Division III boys No. 5 Bunnell (20-6) vs. No. 2 Lewis Mills (19-5), 12:30 p.m.:

Lewis Mills calls its gym “The Thunderdome” because of the loud intense atmosphere and its inhabitants apparently travel well and will be at Mohegan Sun for this game Saturday. The Spartans have not been to a final since 1996, when they beat Portland for the Class S title; Bunnell is making its first appearance since winning Class L in 2015.

Class MM girls No. 5 Sheehan (21-6) vs. No. 2 Northwest Catholic (23-5), 3 p.m.:

Northwest Catholic will be making its second straight appearance in a final, after winning Class S last year. The Lions have most of the same players back, including sophomores Abigail Casper and Maeve Staunton, who provide the bulk of the scoring. “I’m really excited to get back,” Casper said. “It’s been a really fun year again. Playing every game possible you can play in the season, it’s a great experience.” Sheehan, in its first appearance since losing to Cromwell in Class M in 2019, is led by senior point guard Liv Cassesse (12.5 ppg), and sophomores Megan (10.7 ppg) and Jenna Wresien (11 ppg).

Class L girls No. 2 Simsbury (22-4) vs. No. 1 Holy Cross (24-2), 6:15 p.m.:

This is Simsbury’s first appearance in a state final and the Trojans will have their work cut out for them against Holy Cross, who last won a title in 2022. Both teams lost in their conference tournaments. “It helped us to lose a couple games at the end of the season,” Simsbury coach Sam Zullo said. “We were finding better ways for our team to work together and in the state tournament we’ve kind of connected that pretty well and we’re hoping we can do it for one more game.”

Division II boys No. 12 West Haven (20-7) vs. No. 2 Windsor (24-3), 8:15 p.m.:

Windsor’s schedule was tough – the Warriors have wins over East Catholic (twice), Northwest Catholic, last year’s Div. II champion St. Bernard, and this year’s Div. III finalist Lewis Mills – so they are well-prepared for a championship game. Windsor’s last final was 2019 when the Warriors lost to East Catholic and their last state title came 10 years ago, in 2014. Senior Anthony Williams, who missed the end of the season last year due to a broken leg, would like to go out with a title. This is West Haven’s first finals appearance since 1987.