Mercy Falls in Class LL Title Game for Third Straight Year

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.

Mercy Defeats Manchester 52-38 to Advance to Third Consecutive Final

For the third consecutive year, Mercy is returning to Mohegan Sun to play in the Class LL final. The Tigers defeated Manchester 52-38 in a hard-fought semifinal at Sheehan High School that was much closer than the final score indicated.

Neither team could do anything offensively for the majority of the first three quarters. Mercy’s tremendously tight zone defense and Manchester’s consistently aggressive pressure defense caused constant misses and turnovers on both ends. The Tigers defensive effort and impressive work on the glass mitigated their troubles scoring the ball.

Mercy trailed after the first quarter 705, and a three by the Indians Zanaija Gibson gave her team a 10-5 advantage early in the second. Mercy hit back with an 8-0 run to take a 13-10 lead, and a three by Jordyn Nappi gave the Tigers a 15-13 lead entering halftime.

“It’s not possible for us to play better defense than we did tonight,” said Mercy head coach Tim Kohs. “But they were great defensively, too. At halftime I was wondering what we could literally do to score. But I’ll tell you a big play was when [Cassie Santoro] took a charge from Perez early in the second quarter. Manchester sat her down with two fouls and I just thought it was a huge play. They never took her out.”

The Tigers continued to struggle on offense at the beginning of the third but eventually heated up halfway through the quarter. Mercy was more patient on offense and started to break the press, finding seams in the defense that led to open baskets. Meanwhile, Manchester badly missed six consecutive free throws in the second half of the quarter. Back-to-back layups by Maria Weselyj and Liz Falcigno off of gorgeous full-court passes by Nappi helped Mercy build a 29-23 lead. They went into the final quarter up 31-27.

If the third quarter showed Mercy beginning to figure out the Indians defense, the fourth showed them demolishing it. The Tigers began the fourth quarter with a 12-2 run that was keyed by two backbreaking treys from Weselyj. With Mercy continuing to break the Indian press for easy baskets and their defense forcing a bunch of turnovers, Manchester’s comeback chances disappeared.

“We made a couple of threes and broke their press for four or five layups,” said Kohs. “That gave us separation and we were able to relax.”

The Tigers won the fourth 21-11 and stretched their lead to 14 before winning by a final score of 52-38.

Kohs praised a trio of players for their impressive work in the contest.

“Maura Fitzpatrick and Sheena Landy did a great job on Perez,” he stated. “And I thought that Falcigno was great. That was her kind of game, really physical and tough. She’s the kind of kid you want to have in a foxhole with you.”

“We work really hard in practice on our defensive sets,” said Maura Fitzpatrick. “I just tried my hardest to not let my player score and I was able to do a good job. We were able to do that on defense throughout the night because we were all playing good help defense.”

Weselyj scored 10 points in the third and finished with 18 for the game. Falcigno and Nappi were also in double figures with 10 points each. Perez led Manchester with 15 points.

Mercy is playing in the Class LL final for the third consecutive year. The Tigers lost to Norwich Free Academy in 2010 and Career Magnet in 2011. Tim Kohs would love nothing more to end that streak. But he knows that Mercy defeating Newtown will be a significant challenge.

“Oh, I hope so,” he said. “But the fact is we have been consistently good. Class LL is so tough-we could have gotten knocked out in the first round. To get there three years in a row says something good about us. But I know that Newtown is very good.”

Newtown pulled off a 19 point comeback to shock Hillhouse and win the first semifinal game 65-60.

The date and time for the Class LL championship will be announced once all the pairing are set in the girls and boys CIAC championship tournament. It will be at Mohegan Sun either Friday or Saturday night.

Mercy Advances to State Semifinals With 46-32 Win Over East Catholic

To put it bluntly, the state playoffs are a crapshoot. With every team, many of whom haven’t seen one another during the season, gunning for one another, each game presents a new and unique challenge. The pressure to win well and with flair is on the top seeds, and many aren’t able to live up to it.

East Catholic had scored the biggest upset in the Class LL tournament to date when the Eagles, a No. 15 seed, had beaten second-seeded Lauralton Hall in the second round. Seemingly every tournament, a lower-seeded school goes on a great run, and East Catholic looked capable of being that team. To justify their No. 10 seed, Mercy needed to end the Eagles run and thus establish themselves as one of the top contenders for the Class LL championship. And they did. Last night, East Catholic ran into a Tigers team that is on a mission to win a state championship.

Propelled by a strong third quarter, Mercy defeated East Catholic 46-32 at home last night. The Tigers featured very balanced scoring, as five players had five or more points.

Early in the first quarter it appeared like that dreaded upset could happen. East Catholic led 9-4 in the quarter as its aggressive defense gave Mercy fits. The Tigers closed the deficit to one at the end of the quarter, and after trailing by one midway through the second, scored the last five points of the quarter to take a 19-15 lead into halftime.

The third quarter was all Mercy. They found their shot and outscored East Catholic 13-4 in the quarter. A consistent theme on offense as the Tigers built up their lead was the squad’s ability to earn points in transition. By forcing the Eagles into quick and unsuccessful offensive possessions Mercy was able to answer with open layups and jump shots. With every made transition basket off of a missed shot or turnover, you could see East Catholic’s frustration and lack of confidence becoming palpable.

“We did a strong job of rebounding in their matchup zone in the second half,” said Mercy head coach Tim Kohs. “Off those rebounds we were able to get the ball to players who were offensive minded and they found some nice shots. Once we got the tempo going in our favor we were able to control the game.”

I was especially happy with the play of (junior forward) Liz Falcigno,” Kohs said. “She gave us a huge spark in the third quarter. She’s a strong shooter and when she hit a few shots at the beginning of the third, it helped to soften up the defense for everyone.”

After only leading by four at the half, Mercy took stretched their lead as big as 41-23 before East Catholic was able to pick up a couple harmless baskets near the end of the game.

The Tigers were strong on defense for the entire 32 minutes. Mercy never allowed East Catholic to look comfortable on offense and rarely allowed the Eagles to run offensive sets. Only one Eagle scored more than 6 points.

“I thought we played very good defense,” stated Kohs. “Landy (Sheena) and Fitzpatrick (Maura) did a great job of shutting down Nicole Ferguson, who’s her best player. They kept forcing her into tough shots.”

Mercy has now won each tournament game by at least 14 points.

The Tigers will face No. 6Manchester in the semifinals. The matchup will be at Sheehan High on Friday at 7:45.

Mercy Defeats St. Joseph 54-37 to Advance to Quarterfinals

Junior guard Jordyn Nappi scored a game-high 18 points to lead Mercy to a 54-37 victory at St. Joseph’s. Mercy, the No. 10 seed in the Class LL tournament, advanced to the quarterfinals with the victory.

“We played well in all phases of the game,” said Mercy head coach Tim Kohs. “Our effort was strong throughout the game and we had a couple of runs where we were able to put their team away.”

“Nappi played great,” he stated. “She made four threes. She’s been struggling with her shot lately and so it was great to see her make some important open shots.”

Maria Weselyj added 15 for the Tigers.

Mercy will host No. 15 East Catholic on Monday at 7 p.m. East Catholic upset No. 2 Lauralton Hall on Thursday.

“I’m optimistic that will continue to play well,” said Kohs. “If we keep up our strong play then we’ll have a strong chance to beat East Catholic. They’re a hot team. It’s not going to be an easy game.”
54-37

Mercy Defeats Stamford 52-37 in Opening Round of Class LL tournament

It wasn’t the prettiest or most cleanly played game its viewers have ever seen. But Mercy knows how to win a game when their shots aren’t falling, and for the 17th time this season they did just that. The Tigers defeated Stamford in the opening round of the Class LL tournament 52-37 at home.

Mercy started off slow on offense and led only 8-4 after one quarter, but pushed this lead to 24-11 at halftime as outside shots began to fall.

Though the Tigers outside shooting was spotty throughout the game, they were able to maintain a comfortable lead in the second half on the strength of their defense and by directing the ball inside for easy baskets and trips to the free throw line. Mercy cemented their 16-point victory in the fourth quarter by hitting nearly every three throw shot they had, of which there were many.

“I felt like we were playing good offensively for most of the game,” said head coach Tim Kohs. “We were running the offense well and getting open shots. We just weren’t hitting them. We need to execute better on that end going forward.”

Junior guard Maria Weselyj led Mercy with 21 points. Junior guard Jordyn Nappi scored 10 and junior forward Liz Falcigno added nine.

“Weselyj had a great game,” stated Kohs. “She had a mini-slump a few games back, but in the last two games she shot the lights out, which is nice to see at this time of year. I was also happy with the job Liz Falcigno did on defensively on Cognetta, who is their best player.”

Mercy will play St. Joseph of Trumbull, the No. 3 seed in the LL tournament, on the road Thursday at 7 p.m. St. Joseph is 19-3 this season. Kohs sees the matchup as a tossup game that is there for the taking.

“I like how we’re playing right now”, stated Kohs. “To win against anybody going forward we’ll need to execute better on both ends and make open shots. If we play like that than any game is winnable.”

Hillhouse defeats Mercy 56-66 at the Buzzer

Colleene Smith’s last-second layup capped a relentless fourth-quarter Hillhouse comeback and gave her team a 56-55 victory in front of a stunned crowd at Mercy Thursday night.

Hillhouse trailed 51-43 with 3:40 remaining in the game. From out of nowhere, an Academics squad that seemed to lack any momentum staged a furious comeback. A ruthless full-court press allowed Hillhouse to frequently force Mercy turnovers which led to open shots or opportunities at the free throw line. The Academics finally tied it up on a layup by the Smith with 13 seconds remaining, 54-54. Tigers freshman Kendra Landy responded by hitting one of two free throws with 11 seconds remaining, but Hillhouse was able to take advantage of a double team on its star guard Bria Holmes to find her backcourt mate Smith wide-open on the left side. Her layup fell in with less than two seconds remaining, setting of an Academics celebration.

After the game, Mercy Head Coach Tim Kohs was disappointed in how his squad fell apart in the closing minutes.

“They were down eight and they ratcheted up the pressure,” said Kohs. “That’s two games in a row that our ball-handling has been exploited. It’s hard to beat a team when you can’t get the ball up the floor. On top of that, we didn’t shoot free throws well down the stretch.”

“I assumed they would go to Holmes at the end,” he said. “Then when Smith got the ball-and I’ll have to look at the film-it was just like we fell away from her.”

Down the home stretch the overwhelming athleticism of Hillhouse made all the difference. Not only did Mercy fail to get the ball up the floor and subsequently commit turnovers a number of times against the press, but the Tigers also failed to get back and deny the faster Academics players open shots and penetration. Holmes, an All-State player who will be playing for West Virginia next season, was an offensive force during the comeback. Though she started slow, Holmes eventually finished with 29 points and scored seven back-breaking points in the final four minutes, demonstrating both her long-range shooting ability and overpowering strength in the post. Holmes single-handily kept pace with Mercy’s offense, which missed three of four free throws down the stretch. Her bucket that cut the lead to 54-52 with 27 seconds left caused the Tigers defense to completely key in on her on Hillhouse’s last two possessions, setting the stage for Colleene Smith’s last-second heroics.

“I’ve never seen a kid as long and athletic as Holmes,” said Kohs. “Yet instead of backing her away from the basket on rebounds, something we harped on, we seem to think we can get into a tip drill with her.”

Mercy got off to a sluggish start, falling behind Hillhouse 10-3 over the first three minutes and 15-10 after one. However, Mercy got on track thanks to a dedicated defensive effort and patient offensive play. They briefly grabbed the lead before going into halftime trailing 23-22.

As the third quarter went on, the strong ball-handling and shooting of the Tiger guards particularly that of junior guard Maria Weselyj, along with the team’s aggressive play in the paint on both ends, gave Mercy much of the momentum. They were able to neutralize Hillhouse’s offense and especially Holmes with aggressive defense. When Mercy scored the opening seven points of the fourth to lead 47-40 two minutes in, Hillhouse was unable to immediately react as the game seemed to be slipping out of the Academics grasp. And suddenly at the three minute mark, their full-court press led the whole course of the game to change and the roof caved in for Mercy.

“The middle of the fourth quarter hurt us,” said Kohs. “There were times we didn’t know what we were doing. We were double-teaming the wrong people and they were getting back door cuts on us. We had two breakaway layups that we missed too. If we had just made one play in those final minutes, we would have won. But we didn’t make a play.”

Smith had 15 points for Hillhouse. Weselyj led Mercy with 18 points, junior guard Jordyn Nappi scored 11 and junior forward Liz Falcigno had 10. Hillhouse, ranked second in the state, upped its record to 9-1 and Mercy, ranked in the state, fell to 8-3.

The Tigers play a third consecutive top-10 opponent on Monday when they travel to Waterbury in a matchup against undefeated and fifth-ranked Holy Cross.

Mercy Loses First Game of Season to Lauralton Hall, 52-41

Mercy was on fire in the first quarter of the Mercy Classic championship game, racing out to a 12-point lead over Lauralton Hall of Milford with ease. Unfortunately, much of the game had yet to be played.

The Crusaders shut down Mercy on the road over the final three quarters, winning 52-41 Thursday night and handing the Tigers their first defeat of the season.

I knew they were a very good team,” said Mercy Head Coach Tim Kohs. “While we played a very good first quarter, we should have been up more. That’s hard to say when we held them to six points, but when we were up 11-0 we had two chances for easy baskets, but we didn’t get them and gave up baskets instead.”

The Tigers led 18-6 following a Liz Falcigno free throw to begin the second quarter. But for the remainder of the period, Lauralton Hall went on a 16-6 run to get within a basket at the half, 24-22.

Mercy seemed to be regaining its composure as they scored the first two buckets of the second half, but it was imagined. The Crusaders limited Mercy to four points through the remainder of the quarter and earned a 34-42 lead on Cassie Gildea’s bucket to close out the quarter.

Lauralton Hall was able to take the lead by controlling the game in a multitude of ways. The Crusaders defense limited Mercy’s offensive flow and forced the Tigers into poor shots, the team used offensive movement to consistently find open shots, and Lauralton Hall easily controlled the boards on both ends.

Lauralton Hall controlled the fourth quarter.

“I think maybe fatigue got to us,” said Kohs. And they rebounded better as the game went on. I will say that Gildea is as good of a player as I’ve seen this season. She’s a menace on defense. She was on Maria {Weselyj} and did a great job. We just couldn’t handle her.

After closing to within two at 37-35 with 6:55 left to play, the Tigers didn’t score again until a traditional three-point play from Falcigno with 1:51 remaining, a score that only served to cut the deficit to 44-38. From there Lauralton Hall scored the next six points at the line to put the game away.

Lauralton Hall turned its defense up even more in the final quarter and refused to permit Mercy a strong look at the basket. Tiger offensive positions were rushed and frequently ended after one poor shot, leaving a possible comeback dead in the water.

“Offensively we found out we are nowhere near where we need to be,” said Kohs. “I’m not disappointed in that we competed and played very hard. But we did not play well. I’d like to play teams like that 20 teams a year. We’ll get better.”

Maria Weselyj led Mercy with 14 points. Jordan Nappi and Liz Falcigno each had 10 points, and both were named to the All-Tournament Team.

Cassie Gildea scored 14 points and grabbed 18 rebounds, earning a spot on the All-Tournament Team. Michelle Desantis had 10 and was the Mercy Classic’s MVP.

Mercy next plays at Sacred Heart Academy of Hamden on January 6.

Mercy Basketball Looking to Repeat Last Season's Sucess

This is not the same Mercy basketball team that went 24-3 last season and lost in the Class LL state championship game to Career Magnet of New Haven by one point. Stars Amber Bepko and Sadie Edwards are gone, having graduated and transferred to an out-of-state school. Expectations are not as high for this year’s squad, even if it is ranked eighth in the state heading into the season opener with Career tonight. However, Head Coach Tim Kohs embraces the diminished expectations. He is confident his team can prove doubters wrong.

“It’s going to be very hard to win 19 games like we did last season. But it is not out of the question. I think our work ethic is very strong and our defense should be solid.”

Kohs emphasized that the competition Mercy plays in the SCC {Southern Connecticut Conference} and out of conference will be daunting.

“We’re facing six teams who are ranked in the top 10 right now,” he stated. “It’s not like last year when our conference was weaker. It will be a challenge to win against the middle of the pack teams on the road.”

Kohs said that the Tigers depth was a significant strength going forward. Though he admitted his team did not have a big-time scorer, the veteran coach stated Mercy should be very balanced both offensively and defensively.

“I have five seniors who averaged fifteen plus minutes per game last year and have championship experience. They and our juniors have a lot of experience, and each of them will have a spot to contribute with all the shots that are available.”

Kohs points to senior guard Maria Weselyi as his strongest player. Weselyi averaged 10.5 points per game in last year’s campaign, and according to her coach has improved tremendously. Kohs proclaimed her “one of the top shooters in Connecticut.”

Other players who will be counted on to contribute heavily include Jordan Nappi, Liz Falcigno, Cassie Santoro and Sheena Landy. Freshman Kendra Landy and Maura Fitzpatrick are already in contention for starting spots and expected to contribute immediately.

For Kohs, Mercy’s biggest concern compared to other teams is there athletic ability.
“We don’t have a ton of size or speed. We’re not the most athletic team in the world.”

Mercy opens its season at home tonight against Class LL champion Career Magnet of New Haven at 7:00.