The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
BELLRINGERS
climb their way out of it,” Salamone said after finishing with a game-high 16 points. “In the locker room we had a good talk. It was more about (Russell) speaking about our defense, because that’s what created our offense.”
Salamone also had a teamhigh 10 rebounds. The Bellringers (22-1) take a 17-game winning streak into the CIAC Class M tournament, where they are the top seed.
“Among the adjustments was we wanted to make sure on offense that we could move,” said Russell. “And defensively, to get the ball stops, load up and help and try to limit the touches to Adela and to keep Nevaeh out of the paint. We were able to build some momentum on defense, string some stops together, and as the game got later, that puts (Cromwell) in a spot where they might feel they’ve gotta score.”
After trailing 18-16 at the break, Salamone’s scoring streak — she also skipped a pass from just past midcourt to a cutting Delaney Russell for a layup and 25-18 lead — coincided with Cromwell’s offense drying up. The Panthers went the first 5:47 of the quarter without a point. They scored three points in the period and just three more in the
fourth.
It turned out to be a knockout punch for East Hampton.
“The first four minutes of the second half are huge,” Cromwell coach Sal Morello said, relaying what he told his team at the break. “And we come out and couldn’t buy a basket. Give them credit though, because they are so sound defensively. When you get open looks you’ve got to knock them down in these games.”
Katie Ireland drained a 3pointer in the final minute of the third quarter to give the Bellringers a 28-21 lead entering the fourth.
Neither team scored in the fourth quarter. East Hampton’s
offense went into a slowdown mode until Salamone found a clear path to the basket and converted with 4:41 remaining.
A 3-pointer by Olivia DeMartino and another layup by Salamone, who this time went coast to coast and finished, put East Hampton up by 14 with 3:03 to go.
“She’s the rock of this team,” junior Jackie Russell said.
Nevaeh Clark scored nine points to lead the Panthers and fellow senior Adela Cecunjanin, who is averaging a double-double this season, scored just three points.
Cecunjanin sat out six-plus minutes in the first half because of foul trouble.
“I was feeling good about
things at halftime,” said Morello, who took over as head coach this season after spending the previous 12 as an assistant. “We weathered our foul trouble. I thought we would come out strong for the second half but it wasn’t meant to be.”
Salamone, who scored 76 points in three Shoreline tournament games, praised the play of DeMartino and Ireland, while Morello noted that the Bellringers are more than just their highscoring conference player of the year.
“When a team has a player like that, it’s hard to defend her. She’s a special player,” he said. “We had three, four girls keeping an eye on her, and that means we
left some shooters open. You have to give something up when you play East Hampton. You can’t play them straight up fiveon-five. They are the hardest team to defend.”