UNCASVILLE -- In the end, after a record-setting season, the Fairfield Warde girls basketball team ran out of gas at the worst possible time -- the Class L final. The top-seeded Mustangs led most of the way until a late flurry from No. 7 Hillhouse, which ground out a 65-59 victory in front of 3,554 Friday night at the Mohegan Sun Arena."We left the door open," Mustangs coach Dave Danko said. "Hillhouse is a good team and they got us." Previously unbeaten Warde (26-1) carried a 44-39 lead into the fourth quarter, but it quickly evaporated, thanks to a 7-0 Academics' run, triggered by a three-point play from Daniesha Pierce.
The lead changed hands seven times throughout the quarter with Hillhouse (25-2) finally wresting it away for good on a layup by freshman Bria Holmes with 2:16 left, which made it 57-55. Holmes paced Hillhouse with 21 points. Pierce added 18 and sophomore guard Adreana Thomas ended with 19 -- 17 coming in the second half.
The Mustangs still had a shot when senior Daphne Elliott sunk a layup with less than 30 seconds left to make it 60-59. On the next trip down Thomas was fouled and sank the first foul shot, but missed the second. Holmes came away with the offensive rebound and made both attempts after being fouled to give the Academics a two-possession advantage at 63-59.Holmes' converted pair was dually tough for the Mustangs to stomach since they out-rebounded the Academics 55-45, who finished just 16-for-32 from the line. "They didn't need a coach to make or miss those free throws, they had each other," Hillhouse coach Katrina Hawley-Stewart said.
The SCC champion Academics won their seventh state championship in impression fashion, knocking off three straight undefeated teams, Kolbe Cathedral, Avon and Warde.
The FCIAC champion Mustangs hung close thanks to a strong second-half showing from Sabrina Siciliano, who scored 16 of her game-high 22 points after the break. Siciliano, who also had 12 rebounds, erupted to keep Warde afloat after spending the first four minutes of the third quarter stuck on the bench with three fouls.
"We fought all the way until the end," Siciliano (pictured to the left) said, choking back tears. "I wasn't expecting to be crying -- and I'm not one to cry. ... I wasn't expecting this at all." Warde led by as many as 10 in the first half, as Hillhouse struggled to find its range, shooting just 25.9 percent in the half. The Academics limited the damage with an 11-0 run at the start of the second quarter.After the half Thomas and the rest of the Academics heated up, scoring numerous easy baskets after breaking the Mustangs' pressure at halfcourt. "I chalked up the first half to nerves," Hawley-Stewart said.
Though Elliott finished with 18 points it came on 5-for-24 shooting. She also played most of the fourth quarter with four fouls, cutting down her defensive effectiveness. "Four years came down to this one moment," Elliott said. "We did everything we could, we had the game for three and a half quarters."
Danko regretted his team's missed chances down the stretch, which included coming away empty handed on a pair of open-court layups. "The team battled," he said. "The whole year, we always finished. We came up short."
Photos courtesy Connecticut Post. First photo: Warde's Rachel Friedman, left, and Allison Schneider are disappointed as the final seconds tick away; Second photo: Warde's Emily Bengermino, the daughter of longtime Warde legendary coach Ed Bengermino, defends a Hillhouse player during the CIAC Class L state championship basketball game at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville.
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