Northwest Catholic Repeats As Girls Basketball State Champs

UNCASVILLE, CT — From an aesthetic point of view, Saturday's CIAC Class MM girls basketball game might have been played with peach baskets instead of twine.

But that didn't matter for Coach Alison Connors' Northwest Catholic High School in West Hartford, as they repeated as state champions with a 43 -37 victory over M.T. Sheehan High School in Wallingford at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville.

In fact, after the game, Connors said she and her squad knew it would be a low-scoring battle and they were prepared for it.

"We work a lot on our defense," Connors said, adding the strategy in low-scoring contests is to look at each possession as a game unto itself. "It is one possession at a time. We knew going in it was going to be a battle."

Lion Sophomore Maeve Staunton was the game's most valuable player, scoring 16 points (many of them clutch) and pulling down 5 rebounds.

Fellow sophomore big Abigail Caspar also led the way with 19 points for Northwest Catholic, getting 7 rebounds as well.

The game's intensity was evident from the start, even if the shots weren't falling.

The emotion spilled over into the stands, especially as Northwest Catholic's student section repeatedly taunted Sheehan's players and the student section on the other side of the gym.

The second-ranked Northwest Catholic Lions entered the contest with a 20-4 record, including the tournament.

Meanwhile, the fifth-ranked M.T. Sheehan High School Titans of Wallingford were 19-5 after reaching the finals.

Sheehan was looking to win its second state title, last winning it in the Bicentennial year of 1976. Northwest Catholic was seeking its fifth championship, winning it a year ago.

Play was sluggish in the first quarter, with both sides struggling to get good shots.

When the horn sounded, Sheehan had a slim 7-5 lead over the Lions, with plenty of game left.

Both offenses struggled in the second quarter, but a three-pointer by Sheehan sophomore Megan Gressian capped a small flurry of baskets to put Sheehan up 18-12 with less than a minute left in the half.

The first-half defensive struggle ended with Sheehan up 18-14.

But Northwest Catholic came out firing in the second half, taking the lead 19-18 as Sheehan struggled offensively, pushing it up to 22-18, prompting the Titans to call a timeout.

A flurry of offense from both sides saw Northwest Catholic open up a 29-24 lead and the battle was on from there.

A Titan basket and three free throws from senior guard Liv Cassesse, who was fouled on a three-point attempt, then evened the score at 29 with just one quarter to play.

The fourth quarter saw the pace and intensity pick up, with a state title on the line and both sides entertaining championship glory.

With two minutes left to play, Northwest Catholic carried a 38-34 lead after a three-pointer by Staunton pushed the lead to four.

Then, a three by Cassesse for Sheehan cut the Northwest Catholic lead to two points, 39-37, with about a minute to play.

The Lions went up 42-37 after Caspar powered in an old-fashioned three-point play after being fouled with about 30 seconds left.

Caspar said after the game she started feeling good about her team's chances after the play but knew it wasn't over yet.

"It's just an amazing feeling," Caspar said. "I felt really good after that. I knew we still had to play defense."

They did.

From there, it was a matter of playing good defense and hitting one more free throw as Northwest Catholic closed out the Titans for another championship.

Connors beamed while discussing what is fast becoming the norm for her program ... state titles.

"This is what we set out to do," she said. "We did it again. We worked so hard. I'm just so proud of them."

For the game's statistics and box score, click on this link.

From March 18, 2023: 'Northwest Catholic Overcomes Nerves, Cruises To Championship'