This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
02/22/2017 11:00 PMEven though the Guilford girls’ basketball team came up one win shy of playing for the SCC title, the Indians still took plenty of pride from negotiating the challenging road to the league’s Final Four, and feel good about themselves as they get ready to compete in states.
Head Coach Bob Welsh and the Indians finished off the regular season with an impressive record of 14-6 to earn the No. 6 seed in the SCC Tournament. Upon entering the bracket, Guilford defeated No. 11 Amity 60-53 in the first round and then upset No. 3 Career by a 58-40 score in the quarterfinals. The Indians’ run came to an end with a 62-34 loss to No. 2 seed and eventual champion Mercy in the semifinals at Law High School in Milford on Feb. 20. Still, Coach Welsh still feels proud of his athletes to propelling Guilford to its first SCC semifinal since 2007.
“This is my seventh year here as head coach and that was a signature win against Career. We played the game without Janie Danaher, who was out with the flu, and the win was such a high with a game like that,” said Welsh, whose team is 16-7 overall. “She and Camryn Craig, who was also feeling some effects of the flu, felt the effects of the illness against Mercy. Mercy couldn’t play any better. They were hot as a pistol.”
Junior forward Amanda King led the charge for Guilford by scoring 15 points in the Mercy loss. The Indians held an 8-5 lead midway through the first quarter, but then the Tigers (20-3) knocked down 14 field goals, including seven three-pointers, throughout the rest of the first half to take an 35-18 advantage into intermission. Mercy broke open the game by outscoring Guilford 21-7 in the third quarter on its way to the SCC final.
“We were up 8-5 and, before we knew it, they went up 30-11. We just didn’t have an answer for them,” said Coach Welsh of Mercy. “They had four players in double figures for scoring and they rarely missed. We just couldn’t find ourselves.”
The rigorous schedule of a conference tournament, combined with the pressure of a survive-and-advance scenario, can wear down even the best of teams. However, Coach Welsh said that the Indians were built for life in the postseason and demonstrated that by recording two impressive victories in the first half of the SCC bracket.
“We came into the quarterfinals at 15-6 overall and finish the SCCs at 16-7 overall with six of the losses to Mercy, Hand, and Career, who have been in the top 10 of the state all year long. Amity has no quit in them and then to turn around and beat a team like Career, I was proud and they really stepped up,” he said. “I told them after the Mercy loss that I was proud of the whole team. We have as solid of three captains that I’ve ever been around. Camryn Craig has made tremendous improvement. Izzy Nerney has taken over the point guard position and Kayley McLaughlin is as good of a defender as I’ve ever seen here at Guilford.”
The Indians actually struggled out of the gate in the Career contest, but then Coach Welsh called an early timeout to settle down his squad. After that, it was all systems go for Guilford, which battled back to tie the game at 22-22 at halftime, and won the third quarter 20-6 en route to the 18-point win.
“They were out-rebounding us, so I jumped on them in the timeout about rebounding. I told them that it was a marathon and not a sprint, so they had to just chip away at the deficit,” said Welsh. “I was happy to be tied with them at the half and then our scoring came from all over the place in the second. We clicked offensively and stifled them defensively. We also played a 2-1-2 defensive zone against them versus our usual 3-2.”
Guilford now gets ready to play in the Class L State Tournament as the No. 8 seed. The Indians are home for No. 25 seed Platt (8-12) at 7 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 27 and, with a victory, they would host the winner of Farmington and Bunnell at 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 2. Even with a week off between the Conference and State tournaments, Coach Welsh said there won’t be too much rest for the Indians in order to keep their legs fresh for states.
“I gave them the day after the Mercy game off, but we are practicing [on Feb. 22, 24, 26], along with scrimmaging East Haven [on Feb. 23],” said Welsh. “If we win the first round game, we are guaranteed a second round game at home, so two home State Tournament games would be big for us. We have some people who can score and I think we could make a nice run in states.”
From the Sidelines
Camryn Craig and Izzy Nerney earned All-SCC Second Team honors for the Indians this winter.
After defeating Guilford, Mercy went on to face Hand in a rematch of last year’s SCC Tournament final and won a 49-39 decision.
The Indians finished second in the SCC Hammonasset Division with a record of 6-2 this season, while Mercy went 8-0 to take the title.
For the remaining schedule of the Class L State Tournament, the quarterfinals take place on Monday, March 6; the semifinals on Friday, March 10; and the final is at Mohegan Sun Arena on either Saturday, March 18 or Sunday, March 19.