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02/02/2019 11:00 PMThe North Branford girls’ basketball team earned a pivotal win in its playoff chase by rallying for a 44-43 victory over Valley Regional on Jan. 29. The T-Birds, who later took a loss against Cromwell, have a record of 6-11 and need to win two of their last three regular-season games to guarantee themselves a spot in the Class M State Tournament.
Junior Julia Cassista and sophomore Erica Piercey played huge roles down the stretch during North Branford’s home victory versus Valley. Piercey drove to the basket and made a layup with 41 seconds left to give North Branford a 42-39 lead, after which the Warriors cut the deficit to one with 33 seconds to go. Cassista was fouled with 27 seconds left and drained both shots from the line to push North Branford’s lead to 44-41.
Following Cassista’s free throws, Valley countered by hitting a jumper to make it 44-43 with 13 seconds remaining. The Warriors then forced North Branford into committing a turnover when the ball went out of bounds with less than one second on the clock. Valley ran a play to get off a shot on the baseline, but Piercey came up with a huge block at the buzzer to solidify the Shoreline Conference win for the Thunderbirds. North Branford halted Valley’s five-game win streak with the victory.
“I am proud of the effort they put forth. They could have given up. They didn’t need to fight so hard to beat Valley if they didn’t want to,” Head Coach Courtney Manciero said. “Defensively, we had to make two huge stops in the last 20 seconds to keep them from scoring and pulling ahead. For them to put that much effort in shows me how much they want to keep our season going.”
Senior captain Jessie Kilburn scored 13 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, while freshman Braeden LeBeau had 10 points to go with 10 boards and a pair of blocks on the night. Junior Julia Ricardo had eight points, Cassista scored five, while Piercey and freshman Hanna Senerchia added four points apiece for North Branford.
With senior captain Angelina Ramada and junior captain Lily Blomster sidelined due to injuries, Coach Manciero said that Kilburn and Piercey are stepping up big-time in the leadership department for the T-Birds this winter.
“Our team understands that we have to play harder than the other teams if we want to win. Angelina and Lily have been coming to practice and games, so they are still able to be there as vocal leaders for us, but for game performance effort and motivation, we have looked to Jessie and Erica for leadership. They both work hard every single game and practice and it inspires the other girls to follow,” said Manciero. “We talk a lot about what it’s going to take if we want to get those last two wins. We all understand that we are going to have to work hard.”
On Feb. 1, North Branford took a 72-40 loss versus Cromwell in a home game. The Panthers grabbed a 17-7 lead in the first quarter and never looked back en route to extending their Shoreline Conference win streak to 45 straight games. Kilburn recorded another double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. LeBeau scored 14 points to go with nine boards and four blocks for Coach Manciero’s squad.
“They are tough. They apply a lot of ball pressure, which can be very intimidating and cause turnovers. I think we did a better job of handling that and staying composed,” said Manciero of Cromwell. “They beat us by a lot, but we were 50 percent from the free throw line, which would have made a little bit of a difference in the end score. We average around 40 points a game, so offensively, we held our own. They are just very good all around.”
As it tries to lock down a playoff spot, North Branford has a game at Haddam-Killingworth on Thursday, Feb. 7 and will face Coginchaug on the road on Monday, Feb. 11 to conclude its regular season. Each of these games tips off at 7 p.m.