What to know for the CIAC girls basketball season
The 2023-24 CIAC girls basketball season got underway with 22 games on Monday.
Here’s what girls basketball fans should know about rankings, key games and more. 2022-23 champions:
Hamden (LL), E.O. Smith (L), New London (MM), East Hampton (M), Northwest Catholic (S) 2023-24 season opens:
Monday, Dec. 11
Key games: Immaculate at St. Joseph, Dec. 15, 7 p.m.; New London vs E.O. Smith, (at Mohegan Sun,
Uncasville) Dec. 18, 4 p.m.; Newington vs SHA (at Floyd Little, New Haven) Dec. 28 4:30 p.m.; Windsor at Hamden, Dec. 29, 1 p.m.; Thomaston at Brookfield, Jan. 2, 5:30 p.m.; SHA at Hamden, Jan. 9, 6 p.m.; NFA at Bacon Academy, Jan. 11, 6 p.m.; Kolbe Cathedral at East Hampton, Jan. 13, 2 p.m.; Windsor at Newington, Jan. 26, 5:30 p.m.; Holy Cross at St. Paul, Jan. 30, 7 p.m.; Hillhouse at Hand, Feb. 9, 7 p.m.; Stamford at Warde, Feb. 14, 7 p.m.
You should know: Welcome to the shot clock era of CIAC girls basketball. There should be a learning curve for players, coaches, referees and fans as games will now feature a 35-second shot clock. The National Federation of High Schools (NFHS) approved shot clocks in 2021 but it took two years of debate before Connecticut got on board. Shot clocks are now mandated for the varsity level and optional at the JV and freshmen levels in Connecticut.
Also:
In non-shot clock related rules updates: There will no longer be one-andone free throws shot during CIAC games after the seventh foul of the half. Instead, beginning with the fifth foul of each quarter, teams will be awarded two free throws. The fouls reset after each quarter.
A player who gets assessed a technical foul will have to come out of the game and cannot return until time has run off the clock. It is similar to the rule in high school soccer regarding yellow cards.
The CIAC Girls Basket
ball Committee will be using “success in tournament” for placement during the 2023-24 season. Schools of choice are given points for success in each round of the tournament from the previous three years beginning with the quarterfinals. Every season since 2018, a Catholic school has won at least one CIAC championship. This season, several schools of choice will again be at or near the top of several divisions. SHA and St. Joseph are expected to compete for the Class LL title, Holy Cross should be in the mix at the top of Class L, Northwest Catholic could make some noise in MM and Immaculate, Kolbe Cathedral and St. Paul are favorites in Class M. All of those schools have been moved up at least one class due to success in previous tournaments.
In shocking news, Class M runner-up Valley Regional was forced to cancel its 2023-24 season due to a lack of players. The team only had five players come out for the team and two of those players were injured, forcing the team to cancel the season in November. The cutoff for forming a co-op is in September. Valley tried to form a co-op with New London after the cutoff but was denied by the board of the ECC.
Hamden will begin the season as the No. 1 ranked team in the GameTimeCT Girls Basketball Top 10 Poll. They will be looking to become the first team since NFA in 2009 and 2010 to repeat at CIAC Class LL champions. Hamden was unbeaten last season en route to a SCC championship and the school’s first state championship.
Canton in 2016 and 2017 was the last school to repeat as champion in any class. E.O. Smith, New London, East Hampton and Northwest Catholic will be looking to pull off the feat this season. 2024 CIAC tournament: playdown round — February 23 or 24 at higher seeds; first round LL, M, S – February 26 / L, MM, S – February 27
2024 CIAC championship finals:
March 16-17 at Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville