The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Northwestern sweeps Gilbert
WINSTED — Northwestern’s boys and girls basketball teams swept a doubleheader set of rivalry games against cross-town Gilbert Friday night in a jam-packed Northwestern High School gym.
The girls went first. The Highlanders, tied with Thomaston for first place in the Berkshire League after splitting with each other for their only league losses, faced two tough opponents, including Gilbert, in their final three games of the regular season while Thomaston has a relative cakewalk through three teams with losing records.
Gilbert star Emily Arel led the Yellowjackets to a near-upset over Northwestern, 52-49, last month at The Gilbert School. Friday, Arel, with 33 points, led her team again, going up by eight in the third quarter.
But Northwestern has a star of its own. Maddie Topa’s 34 points brought her Highlanders back to a 5344 win in a dominant final period.
The boys matchup flipped the Gilbert threat to the other end of their game. The Yellowjackets, tied with Shepaug for third place in the BL, came to Northwestern fresh from upsetting Torrington last Monday, when John Devanney and Nolan Adams shot the lights out at home.
Northwestern sits in second place with two league losses to Wamogo’s one, but the Warriors host Gilbert next Tuesday and the Yellowjackets gave Wamogo
fits at the Hive last month in a 63-59 overtime loss.
Another Gilbert threat, another chance to make good against Northwestern Friday. No wonder the gym was packed.
First, though, the boys game previewed this bestof-rivalries in a pre-game ceremony to present the NVL Brass Division Football Championship banner to the Gilbert/Northwestern/Housatonic co-op team on which many basketball players from both teams starred.
“This is the last time I’ll get to play Gilbert at home,” said Northwestern/GNH star Freddie Camp. “Some of my best friends are at Gilbert.”
“Playing against them is great,” said Gilbert star/ GNH teammate Adam Biraga. “It’s like we’re back on the playground growing up.”
Forget any imagined rivalry animosity. Just like they did on the football team, these guys played hard Friday night — for opposing teams.
Northwestern’s Camp, on a mission to make it all worthwhile, stole the show with 18 of his game-high 28 points in the first half, often feeding GNH teammate Devin Divita for eight of his 22 points.
Gilbert’s Biraga banged away with Divita underneath for points and rebounds as if it were an allout GNH practice session.
The result was a 13-13 tie at the end of the first.
Camp and Divita led the way to a 32-26 Highlander lead at the half, stamped with an NBA-length threepointer by Camp at the buzzer.
“We missed a lot of shots. They did what they needed to,” said Gilbert coach Mark Douglass.
“Freddie gave us the energy we needed,” said Northwestern coach Doug Sebach. “(Gilbert) did good things, but we controlled the tempo in the second half. We worked the offense; we were patient enough to get layups.”
Camp and his teammates focused on feeding Divita for eight points in the third quarter. But, despite single three-pointers from Gilbert’s Adams and Devanney, Biraga had a quiet quarter.
Northwestern inched to a 46-37 lead at the end of the third period; all the stars were ready to shine in the fourth.
Camp was back for 10 points, Divita another six for Northwestern.
Gilbert’s Corey Schmidt, Devanney and Biraga did much of their work at the foul line, going 12-for-12, 19 of 21 for the game.
Nevertheless, Northwestern won the biggest scoring burst of the night, 23-20.
Now, in their hopes for a tie in the league championship, the Highlanders are happy to cheer their football teammates on in Gilbert’s game next Tuesday at Wamogo.
In a BL version of scheduling hell, the Yellowjackets follow this week’s games against Torrington and Northwestern with their final two regular-season games next week against Wamogo and Shepaug.
“It’s getting us ready for the tournaments,” said Coach Douglass.