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Morgan Girls’ Basketball Reaches Shoreline Final, Takes 50-43 Defeat to East Hampton

The Morgan girls’ basketball squad made a deep postseason run in the Shoreline Conference Tournament last week. The Huskies picked up wins against Westbrook in the quarterfinals and Cromwell in the semifinals, before they dropped the final against an undefeated East Hampton squad. Morgan finished the year with an overall record of 11-4.

On March 22, the No. 2 seed Huskies hosted No. 10 Westbrook, and claimed a 51-38 victory in the contest. Both teams played an even first quarter, tied at 11-11 heading into the second. At halftime, Westbrook held the advantage by a single tally at 18-17. In the third quarter, Westbrook extended that advantage to 33-30, but Morgan turned up the heat in the fourth, outscoring the Knights 21-5 en route to the 51-38 victory.

Senior captain Catie Donadio and Katie Martin led the scoring effort with 15 points apiece. Donadio also added 11 rebounds, three assists, four steals, and a block, while Martin tallied, 13 boards, three steals, and one assist.

Caeley Ayer scored 11 points to go with six rebounds, four steals, two blocks, and one assist. Senior captain Alex Kelly added 12 boards, four points, and a rejection. Ava Johnson scored three points, to go with four rebounds, an assist, and a steal. Victoria O’Neill tallied five rebounds, two blocks, and two points, while Sofie Passante added two boards, and two points.

Two days later, the Huskies faced off at home against No. 3 seed Cromwell. Morgan fell behind by a narrow margin early as Cromwell took a 13-12 lead after one quarter, and the Panthers extended that lead to 26-20 at halftime. Morgan came on strong in the second half, and locked down on defense. The Huskies outscored the Panthers 11-7 in the third quarter, and a whopping 19-4 in the fourth on their way to the 50-37 win.

Donadio scored 21 points to go with 12 rebounds, four assists, two steals, and two blocks. Ayer added 12 points, six boards, four steals, three assists, and two blocks, while Kelly had 14 rebounds, five blocks, one assist and one steal. Martin scored eight points along with three rebounds, two assists, and a steal. Johnson supplied three points, three rebounds, and two assists.

On March 26, Morgan head to No. 1 seed East Hampton to play in the Shoreline Conference final. The Bellringers got out to a big lead in the first quarter, outscoring the Huskies 15-4, but Morgan closed the gap slightly to 24-17 by halftime. Morgan crept closer in the third and trailed just 34-32 after three. East Hampton outscored the Huskies 16-11 in the fourth and claimed the conference crown in a 50-43 final.

Martin led the Huskies in scoring with 12 points, while Donadio tallied 11 points. Johnson scored nine, Kelly scored six, and Ayer added five.