Warde Girls' Basketball Team Captures FCIAC Championship Over Stamford, 56 to 42

The following article was written by Mike Cardillo, a sportswriter for the Connecticut Post newspaper. The Andrew Warde High School alumni congratulate head coach Dave Danko and the Warde girls' basketball team for winning the FCIAC championship last night by defeating Stamford, 56-42.

The Stamford girls basketball team is probably relieved that it's playing in the Class LL state tournament, not the Class L division. It means the Black Knights won't have to see Fairfield Warde, or specifically Sabriana Siciliano, ever again.

Eleven days after torching Stamford for a career-high 37 points in a 28-point Warde win, Siciliano once again burned the Black Knights -- this time in the FCIAC championship game. Siciliano spurred a second-half charge by the top-seeded and undefeated Mustangs as they defeated the No. 2 Black Knights 56-42 Thursday night at Fairfield Ludlowe.

Siciliano, who was held scoreless in the first half, finished with 14 points, 12 rebounds, six steals and four assists to win tournament MVP honors.

"This is surreal," said Siciliano, seen at the left, after the Mustangs claimed their first league title since 1998, when it was known as Fairfield High. "I was getting the chills at one point. (Late in the game) I had an epiphany that we can actually win this."

That epiphany came after Stamford pushed Warde harder than any opponent this season. The Black Knights (17-4) fought tooth-and-nail with the Mustangs (23-0) until Warde finally pulled away in the final four minutes.

"Their depth will wear you down in the long run," Stamford coach Curtis Tinnin said. Stamford actually had Warde on the ropes during an eight-minute span when the Mustangs went scoreless between the first and second quarters.

The Black Knights led by as many as seven points, as senior forward Fiona O'Dwyer had her way with the Warde pressure. Stamford, however, couldn't extend the lead to double digits and make Warde sweat going into halftime. The Mustangs closed the half on a 9-3 run, capped by a rare 3-pointer by Rachel Friedman (nine points, 11 rebounds) as time expired, and trailed only 22-21.

"If we'd gotten (the lead) to double-digits or at least a safe zone, which is a lot with Warde, maybe it would have been a different outcome," said O'Dwyer, who finished with 11 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks.

In the first half Stamford slowed down the pace and man-marked Siciliano out of the game, but it didn't take long for that to change in the second half. "It's a credit to them, they spread us out," said Warde coach Dave Danko, a former basketball standout with the Andrew Warde High School Crimson Eagles. "In the first half, we couldn't get it going, but all year my motto was eventually we're going to get you."

Warde got it going quickly in the second half, with an 8-0 run on baskets from Siciliano and Alex Aufiero to go ahead 29-22. Stamford, unlike most Warde opponents, didn't wilt to the pressure and trailed 36-31 at the end of the third, thanks to Jasmin Jones' tireless work on the offensive glass. Jones finished with nine points and 11 rebounds.

Finally by the fourth quarter, the Warde pressing defense became too much for Stamford to handle, with Siciliano and Daphne Elliott (17 points) wreaking havoc at midcourt and forcing the Black Knights into 18 second-half turnovers.

"We had to crack down on defense, which helped us build the 10-point lead," Elliott said. Stamford went scoreless for nearly four minutes at the end of the game while Warde did most of its damage via Siciliano and Elliott getting to the free-throw line. The Mustangs scored 12 of their 20 fourth-quarter points from the line, while the Black Knights were only 7-for-19 for the game.

"We didn't get frazzled, we kept our composure," Siciliano said. "We knew we'd be able to come back." For Warde's six seniors, the championship was the culmination of four years of work and a great sense of relief.

"You know, when they come back to the school and look up at that banner in the gym, they'll realize they accomplished something we've been working on for four years," Danko said.

Photos courtesy the Connecticut Post newspaper.

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