Wreckers Girls FCIAC Title Hopes Ended by Greenwich
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The Staples Girls basketball team, after a stellar regular season going 20-2, saw their hopes for an FCIAC title dashed by a Greenwich team which had defeated them with their first loss in January. The Cardinals earned their first FCIAC tournament title in 38 years on Wednesday night at Fairfield University’s Leo D. Mahoney arena by topping the Wreckers 65-49.
The Wreckers entered the final having decisively defeated Ridgefield and Stamford in the first two rounds, but had no answer for Greenwich sophomore center and tournament MVP Zuri Faison who led all scorers with 27 points, and Maddie Utzinger whose 22 points earned most of the Cardinals scoring. Greenwich had won their last nine games and seemed comfortable in the somewhat intimidating environs of the Fairfield University Mahoney Arena which seats 3,500 fans.
The Wreckers were tentative from the opening jump and were unable to penetrate the Cardinal defense, closing the first quarter with only two points and found themselves down by 10. The second period continued to challenge Staples on both offense and defense and at the half, their deficit increased to 14.
Photos and Story By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.
The Wreckers head coach Tommy Sparks told WestportLocalPress, “It took us a bit to get acclimated to the moment. We started out a little flat. Offensively, Greenwich made it tough for us to get into our sets and also slowed down our transition game. In the second half, we were able to get into a decent flow offensively but couldn't get any stops on the defensive end. The girls battled until the end but we dug ourselves in too deep of a hole in the 1st half.”
As they have done all year, Senior Captain Freya Harvey and Junior Captain Chloe Smith provided much of the Wreckers scoring, with 19 and 22 points respectively with each player drain three from beyond the arc.
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The team huddles up during a time out as Coach Sparks tries change the direction of the game and urge the girls to focus and try to recover from the deficit.
The Wreckers girls under Sparks, in his second season as head coach reached the FCIAC finals for the first time since 2020. In summarizing this season he told WLP, “ We are very pleased with the team's efforts throughout the season. As a team, we knew that we had the capability of having the year that we had. The team did a good job of staying focused throughout the season and preparing the right way. We feel that this group has done a a great job of building off of last year and has continued to set the foundation for the program. In addition to team success, this group has also helped to cultivate positive relationships and ignite excitement with players at the youth level. We are proud of the team's resilience and growth throughout the season.”
Although disappointed with this loss, Head Coach Sparks is looking to the CIAC State Tourney, saying, “We've put the regular season and the FCIAC playoffs behind us. We know that we have to shift our focus onto our next opponent and elevate ourselves to be prepared for them. We are excited for the state tournament. We are confident that we can play well.”
The Wreckers Cheerleaders try to rally the crowd which had gone quiet as the Cardinals continued to control the game.
Photos and Story By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.