Crusaders’ balance proves decisive
FAIRFIELD — It takes a village to win at playoff time. And the Trinity Catholic High School girls basketball team is looking to camp out as long as it can at the FCIAC Tournament.
The No. 3 seeded Crusaders took a nice first step Saturday as they defeated No. 6 seed Ludlowe 59-50 in the quarterfinals at Ludlowe’s gym.
The victory means Trinity Catholic (16-4 overall) will battle No. 7 seed Ridgefield in Tuesday’s semifinal doubleheader at Trumbull. Ridgefield nipped No. 2 seed Trumbull 41-40 in Saturday’s other early quarterfinal.
“Playoff wins mean a lot. We all worked so hard to get here,” said Kyah Nowlin, one of Trinity Catholic’s five seniors. “This group has chemistry. We have fight.”
And all members of Trinity Catholic’s rotation of six had a hand in this triumph over Ludlowe (14-6 overall).
Trinity Catholic led from early in the second quarter to the final buzzer by doing the little things.
Kiera Fenske (nine points) and Nowlin (16 points) expanded Trinity Catholic’s scoring options. The defensive work that Fenske and Nowlin did on Ludlowe’s leading scorers, senior Bridget Paulmann and sophomore Anna Paulmann was more impressive.
Bridget Paulmann scored eight of her 17 points in the fourth quarter. Anna Paulmann, who sat out a six-minute stint spanning the third and fourth periods, had nine of her game-high 19 points in the final 4:15 of play.
Trinity Catholic senior center Iyanna Lops had 13 of her 15 points in the first half. Lops
nailed three 3-pointers in a 13-1 surge to lift the Crusaders to a 30-19 halftime edge.
Despite playing with three fouls for the last half of the third period and drawing her fourth foul with 6:09 to go, Lops was a force in the paint.
“We knew what to expect from Trinity Catholic,” said Ludlowe coach Sara Kinsley, referring to TC’s 51-44 win at Ludlowe on Jan. 22. “To deal with Lops’ height advantage we had to attack her and get her in foul trouble which we did.”
Leading 43-34 with 5:28 left, Trinity Catholic coach Mike Walsh chose to sit Lops for three minutes. Sarah Jablonsky gave the Crusaders’ small lineup three key minutes while Nowlin did the rebounding.
“Iyanna does so much for us,” Nowlin said. “We had to step up for her. I like rebounding.”
FREE THROWS CHARITABLE FOR TRINITY
Trinity Catholic ended the regular season last Wednesday with a 43-39 loss to Trumbull where the Crusaders made just 7 of 14 free throws in the final 5:14.
TC point guard Caitlyn Scott (16 points) did not wish to experience that scenario again.
With Ludlowe in the penalty with 2:12 left in the third quarter, Scott made 12 of 12 free throws in the fourth quarter to nail down the victory. Overall, TC was 20 of 24 from the line compared to 6 of 9 for Ludlowe.
“On film, we could see that I needed to bring my elbow in. I think I shot 700 free throws since last Wednesday night,” Scott said. “We have a good group where most of us haven’t had much playoff opportunity. We trust each other. We just have to keep coming out strong.”