Basketball is an inherently democratic sport. Teams can win even when they are outmanned physically or lack significant experience. In a championship basketball game, a team with chemistry and confidence always has a shot to win. The Mercy Tigers understand very well that a title game will frequently come down to a final couple of plays, and that sometimes your team won’t get the breaks at the worst possible moment. For the third consecutive year, Mercy was defeated in a Class LL championship game that came down to the wire. Mercy fell to Newtown 44-42 Friday night in front of a boisterous crowd at Mohegan Sun.
Mercy has now lost three consecutive title games by a total of seven points. In 2010 the Tigers lost a nail-biter to Norwich Free Academy when a tying 3-pointer rimmed out at the buzzer. In 2011 the team fell to a Career squad by two points after defeating them twice during the regular season. And in this year’s game, Mercy was unable to answer after Jessica put in a go-ahead layup with 22.6 seconds remaining.
I have no words to describe how frustrating this is,” said had coach Tim Kohs. “To have this happen three times in a row…I have no words.”
Newtown’s patient zone defense slowed down a Mercy offense that was only occasionally effective. The Tigers struggled shooting the ball for most of the game. They went into the half down 23-19 and trailed by 13 points midway through the third quarter.
However, Mercy was too good of a team for Mercy to keep down forever. They slowly but surely chipped away at the deficit and with just under four minutes to play, a layup from guard Jordyn Nappi cut the Nighthawks lead to 37-35. Suddenly, it was a race to the finish.
Newtown quickly pushed the lead to six with just over three minutes remaining. The Tigers ignored the deficit. Nappi scored again to get within four before ace Maria Weselyj drained a three -pointer with 1:20 left to make the score 41-40. It was Weselyj’s first first field goal all night.
After the Nighthawks threw the ball away with 54 seconds remaining, Maura Fitzpatrick scored with 25 seconds remaining to give Mercy a 42-41 lead and send the Tigers fans into a frenzy.
That’s when Newtown called the play of the night. They caught Mercy off guard with a full-court pass to Jessica Lynch, and a streaking Lynch laid in the ball for the go-ahead basket.
The Tigers responded by going to a bread-and-butter play for them all year, working the ball to Weselyj for a good opportunity at a three-pointer in the right corner. But as had been the case all night, Weselyj missed the shot. Mercy had one last chance to win or extend the game with 5.9 seconds remaining after Bridget Powers made only one of two at the line, but a long pass was intercepted Wurtz, giving Newtown its first state title.
“We took the lead, but immediately gave it back on that long pass,” siad Kohs. “We know they do that and Cassie was in a good position, but the pass was just over her fingertips and it went for a layup. They play fast and they get the ball downcourt. Their kid made a great pass.”
“We came all the way back from 13 down and I thought we had all the momentum, but they made that pass.”
Kohs recognized that his team did not do enough early to capitalize on their comeback.
“There were a lot of things in this game,” he stated. “I thought we had enough good looks in the first half to be up by six instead of down at the half. It took us a long time to get going offensively. We had a lot of shots rim out.”
Newtown delivered a crushing blow when they opened the third quarter with a 9-0 run that made the score 32-19. Though Mercy was able to fight all the way back, they were not able to overcome their shaky shooting. Newtown had 17 field goals to Mercy’s 12. Weselyj in particular struggled from the field. The junior had just five points and made only one trey.
“They did a good job on here, “said Kohs. “They put a big kid on here, but we also didn’t do a good job of setting screens for her. We weren’t physical enough in setting screens.”
Nappi carried Mercy on offense. She had 14 points and scored six in the fourth quarter as the Tigers outscored the Nighthawks 14-7.
“We have two very good shooters in Nappi and Weselyj,”stated Kohs. “But they are like fric and frac; they don’t usually both have good games on the same night.”
The disappointment has added up for Kohs. Even after almost beating NFA three years ago, Kohs believed they were the superior team. After last year he was upset that his team almost beat Career despite playing badly. This year, Kohs realizes his team’s slow start did them in against Newtown.
“Each year is different and honestly, the third time is more disappointing than the others,” he said. “I’m disappointed now and I’ll be disappointed if we don’t win next year. It’s tough to lose one and every time you lose one it hurts a little more.”
Nappi was the only Tiger in double figures. Powers put up 12 while Wurtz scored 18.
Mercy is now 1-4 in title games.
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