The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Thomaston takes Berkshire League title
Decker leads charge with game-high 20 points for Bears in victory over Northwestern
TERRYVILLE — In the Berkshire League Girls Basketball Tournament final round Friday night, a battle between league co-champions Thomaston and Northwestern was largely decided after the first quarter at Terryville High School.
Thomaston, the tournament’s No. 1 seed by coin flip, won that first period 16-9 on the strength of 12 points from senior guard
Nicole Decker (game-high 20 points), then dominated the rest of the game to a 49-37 final score.
The two teams split their regular-season match-ups for their only league losses, but that turned into a slightly fuzzy picture.
After the Highlanders won the first game of the season by a single point, 36-35, new head coach Brian Mozelak looked at the tape. He decided his team wasn’t playing the kind of inyour-face defense retired coach Bob McMahon made a Golden Bear staple over his long, successful career.
Mozelak’s fix showed up a month ago in a 59-41 rematch win against the Highlanders.
Friday, the Bears came intent on enforcing the season-long correction.
“We got off to a horrible start and a lot of that was because we felt Thomaston’s pressure on us,” said Northwestern coach Fred Williams.
“We tried four or five different defenses, but our execution on offense wasn’t there,” he said. “You’ve got to make layups; you’ve got to make good passes.”
“We just played straight manto-man,” said Thomaston’s Decker, but there was lots of Thomaston help swarming the ball when it was needed — especially when Northwestern star Maddie Topa (team-high 17 points) made one of her all-out moves to the basket.
Topa, a big sophomore guard, had eight points by the half, but six of them came at the foul line along with a single field goal.
Thomaston’s penalty for the aggressive defense was a second foul on star center Ava Harkness just five minutes into the game.
Coach Mozelak kept Harkness on the bench for much of the first half. That should have been a major advantage for Northwestern.
Not on Friday.
“We knew we had to watch for Nicole and Ava, but the other three (positions) hurt us just as much as they did,” said Coach Williams.
With Harkness on the bench
in the second quarter, Decker had just two more points, but Payton Mozelak fired two of her three treys for the night. Lilly and Marissa VanOrmer added a pair of baskets, staving off Northwestern’s best period of the night, 12-11.
Meanwhile, Topa was 4-for-4 at the foul line, with a quarteropening drive to the hoop, but nothing but Thomaston defense staring at her from there.
The score stood 28-20 at the half, but the score was 23-9 after Mozelak’s first three.
Harkness was back on defense for the second half and Thomaston’s edge never went away.
Point guard Decker’s guiding was crucial to Thomaston’s dominance.
“People talk about the league’s other stars, but we think we have the most reliable player in the league. When she and Ava are clicking together, it’s really something,” said Coach Mozelak.
In the third quarter, it was “the other three” who did the
most damage, with two treys from Kylie Decker and another from Mozelak at the buzzer.
Topa had her best quarter with eight.
And still, Thomaston’s lead after Mozelak’s buzzer-beater was 39-28.
Decker and Harkness led the final-quarter scoring; Thomaston’s defense smacked closer than ever; Decker steered smoothly through Northwestern’s walls.
The game was over. Thomaston held up the Tournament
Championship plaque.