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02/20/2016 11:00 PMGirls’ Basketball
No. 3 seed Morgan defeated No. 6 Old Lyme in the quarterfinals of the Shoreline Conference Tournament, 69-37, to move to the semifinals and improve to 18-3 on the season. Morgan will play No. 2 seed East Hampton in the semis at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 23 and, with a victory, would face the winner of top-seeded Cromwell and No. 4 Coginchaug for the title at 7 on Thursday, Feb. 25. Both the semifinals and final are at Coginchaug.
On Feb. 20 at home, the Huskies throttled Old Lyme in the conference quarterfinals with a stingy defense and fast-paced offensive attack led by Sami Ashton, who scored 23 points. Morgan took control of the game in the first quarter by jumping out to a 19-3 lead and never looked back en route to the rout. Josie Sullivan added 16 points and Riley Smith had 10 in the win.
Earlier in the week on Feb. 16, Morgan saw its 10-game win streak snapped in its regular season final when the Huskies lost at Cromwell, 64-56. Cromwell took the first quarter, but Morgan came back in the second to tie the game at 28 at the half. The third quarter was all Cromwell as the Panthers shut down Morgan’s offense holding the Huskies to just four points, while scoring 14 themselves. The fourth quarter was evenly played and Cromwell hung on to remain undefeated. Ashton scored 29 to go along with four steals; Josie Sullivan had a double-double with 17 points and 15 rebounds; and Smith had eight points and four boards in the loss.
Boys’ Basketball
The Huskies dropped two of three home games last week as they defeated Whitney Tech 65-54, then lost to Cromwell 66-48, and finished the long week with a 67-59 overtime defeat at the hands of North Branford. The Huskies are now 9-10 on the season.
First up was a non-conference match versus Whitney Tech on Feb. 16. Morgan came out sluggish, but broke the game open after halftime with a strong third period. In the fourth, Morgan kept the Owls at bay for the 65-56 victory.
Dylan Ketch scored 32 points and also had 16 rebounds, four assists, two steals, and two blocks; Gabe Eriksen had 14 points, five rebounds, two assists and three steals; plus Anthony Choronzy finished with 10 points, three rebounds, and two steals.
“I don’t think we came prepared to play as hard as we needed to from the start,” Coach ken Beeman said. “To the boys’ credit, they picked it up and were able to extend the lead to secure the win. Heck, a win is a win at this point.”
Next was a date with 16-3 Cromwell. The Huskies fell behind from the start and couldn’t recover as they lost 66-48. Ketch had 16 points and seven rebounds with five steals, while Eriksen finished with 14 points and four steals.
“It was definitely not our night tonight. We struggled mightily on offense against their highly aggressive and physical defense,” Beeman said. “Credit to Cromwell for being able to live right on the edge of physicality and controlling tempo.”
On Feb. 19, North Branford came to town and won in overtime, 67-59, on Morgan’s Senior Night. Morgan battled North Branford back and forth, eventually opening up a good lead in the third quarter. Unfortunately for the Huskies, they could not maintain that lead as they rushed their offensive decisions and made questionable defensive choices, according to Coach Beeman, leading to overtime and the eventual loss. Ketch went for eight points and eight rebounds, Eriksen had 12 points, Murray finished with 10 points, eight boards and four assists; Chucky Kostek had 12 points and four rebounds, and Jake Anselmo scored nine for the Huskies.
“This one was tough to swallow, especially being the final home game in this gym,” Beeman said. “I am empathic for the boys but know we did not make enough plays offensively or defensively at the end to earn a win. We let this one get away from us.”
Girls’ Indoor Track
On Feb. 20 at the State Open Championship, Morgan finished in 20th place with a total of six points. All six points were scored by the 1,600-meter sprint relay squad as they claimed third with a time of 4:18.45 behind Courtney Viglione, Kate Mozzochi, Catlen Goss, and Courtney Carroll. That same team of runners also placed ninth (4:11.88) in the 4x400 for the Huskies, while Alli Gardner, Elizabeth Granfield, Daley, and Ranaudo finished 13th in the 4x800 relay at 10:36.44. In the 3,200-meter run, Daley placed 17th at 11:58.94. For the preliminaries of the 55-meter hurdles, Mozzochi finished eighth with a time of 8.87 seconds.