Patch Durham-Middlefield, CT --By Alan Pease
*Coginchaug Girls Advance to Semis, Lose to Cromwell*
On Monday, February 18^th, powered by 22 big points from Morgan Kuehnle, the girls advanced past Hyde to the semi-finals of the Shoreline tournament. Kuehnle scored 16 of her points in the second half, allowing the Devils to overcome a 22-25 half-time deficit and get to a final victory margin of 51-43. I was unfortunately not able to see this game, being in Enfield to see the boy’s valiant effort up north, so I have no further details, but bravo to Morgan for an outstanding game.
On Thursday, February 21^st, the Lady Devils were the visitor in their own gym, as the Coginchaug facility was host for the tournament, but the fourth ranked Devils had to play the top seeded Panthers, making the Panthers the home team.
Cromwell was a team that was undefeated, and had beaten the Devils twice already, first by 15, and most recently by 27 points. With Cromwell’s two big girls, Janelle Harrison and Lindsay Langenauer figuring to dominate inside play, and guards Emily Appleby and Kelly Flanagan leading the outside attack, it figured to be a long and difficult night for the Lady Devils.
The thing is, Coginchaug had a plan. They played oppressive defense, forcing Cromwell to take awkward shots, and were deliberate on offense, keeping the number of possessions down for both teams, and allowing Cromwell less time to wear down the Devil’s defense. And it worked pretty darn well. The Panthers missed their first five shots, while Kim Romanoff opened the scoring with a two. Cromwell finally connected on a trey to go ahead at the four minute mark, but after some more deliberate offense, Jessica Solomon again put Coginchaug up with a basket. Another three-pointer from Cromwell gave them a 6-4 lead after one period.
The second period again started slow, as the teams traded baskets over the first three minutes, with Romanoff scoring for the Devils, when there was a small flurry of baskets over the next three minutes. Romanoff tied the score at 8, then after a Cromwell bucket, Audrey Arcari again knotted the score with a steal and basket. Cromwell was again able to answer, but Romanoff dropped in still another bucket. With three minutes left in the half, the Panthers again surged ahead, but they committed their seventh foul on a Mikayla Wyskiel rebound, and Mikayla dropped in both ends of the one and one to knot the score at 14 all. Neither team could get in the scoring column for the remainder of the half, leaving the halftime score at a whopping 14-14.
The third period saw a continuation of the very deliberate pace by the Devils, but Cromwell had a bit more luck in getting the basketball to fall, as they scored eleven to the Devils seven, with Romanoff dropping in five of those, and Morgan Kuehnle getting the other two. So entering the final period, the Panther led by four points, 25-21.
Coginchaug re-committed themselves to defense to start the fourth period, shutting Cromwell out for better than four minutes, while Romanoff scored a bucket, and Jessica Solomon dropped in one of two from the line to make it a one point game. The top-seeded Panthers started to get back on track, as they scored a two, and after an Olivia Corazzini bucket again made it a one point game, knocked in both ends of a one and one try from the charity stripe. Kuehnle scored off of a Romanoff assist to again make it a one point game, with Cromwell ahead 29-28 with two minutes remaining, but with a turnover and a missed shot for the Devils, Cromwell rattled off three straight baskets plus an “and one” on the last to lead by eight, 36-28, with one minute remaining. In that final minute, Romanoff made things closer with two quick baskets and a free throw, along with a single free throw from Katelyn Williams, but Cromwell connected on three of six from the charity stripe which was enough to salt away the 39-34 victory.
Kim Romanoff was brilliant in a losing cause, doing the majority of the ball handling in the deliberate offense, and still scoring 20 of Coginchaug’s 34 points. She also tied for the rebounding lead with four, and has a steal and an assist. Morgan Kuehnle was the other top rebounder with four, also scoring four points, stealing a ball and blocking a shot. Jessica Solomon scored three, grabbed three rebounds and blocked a shot. Olivia Corazzini had three rebounds and two points. Audrey Arcari had two points, two rebounds, and a steal.
Off the bench, Mikayla Wyskiel scored two and grabbed one rebound, and Katelyn Williams scored one and had a steal.
The loss knocked the Devils out of the Shoreline conference tournament, with Cromwell taking the Championship game against Morgan by a 44-33 score.
Next up for Coginchaug will be the 12-8 Lady Tigers of Bullard Havens Tech in the state class M tournament, to be played at Coginchaug tonight at 7 PM. If they do get past that game, they would either travel to Notre Dame-Fairfield, or host North Branford in a second round game at 7 PM on Friday, March 1^st. Reported by Patch 1 day ago.