Terriers Basketball Perseveres, Creates History on Home Floor

Not even a five minute scoring drought in the second quarter could prevent the Rocky Hill girls’ basketball team from advancing to the semifinal round for the first time in the program’s history.

The resilient Terriers shook off the shaky quarter and defeated Stonington, 55-42, in quarterfinals of the Class M tournament last Monday night at RHHS.

“Every second quarter all year,” Rocky Hill coach Allyson Smith-Toulouse joked about the team’s second quarter struggles this season, “Defense wasn’t the issue. We got up early and we felt confident, which is great, but I thought we got a little lazy with our passes and Stonington is such an aggressive team on that end of the floor. I think we just had to readjust and slow it down and take care of the ball.”

Junior Nikki Lukens scored the game’s first four points and totaled eight points in the first quarter, providing the home Terriers a 16-9 lead after the first eight minutes.

Then the visiting Bears woke up from their hibernation to start the second quarter as Stonington’s Kate Hall led an 8-0 run, scoring the first five points in the frame, and the Terriers were held without a point until the 2:07 mark of the quarter.

“She told us just to stay strong,” Lukens said about her coach’s message during a timeout in the second quarter, “We just had to stay composed. They got that lead because we turned the ball over and we just had to pass the ball around and get open shots.”

Lukens broke the scoring slump with a lefty hook off glass and added another layup late in the half following an offensive rebound and dish from Samantha Steinman. The bucket gave the Terriers a 22-21 lead at intermission.

Kate Johnson scored to start the second half, briefly regaining the lead for Stonington, but a baseline jumper from Steinman started an eight-point run and the home team would not trail the rest of the way.

“We wanted to come out really strong. The beginning of the third quarter is the most important and it’s where we really extended our lead,” added Lukens, who relished the historic victory with her senior teammates, “We’ve been together for three years and I think we have really good chemistry and it’s really grown this year. This was their last possible home game and it meant a lot to the seniors.”

Lukens finished with a game-high 22 points and Hall had a team-high 16 points for Stonington.

The productive guards traded shot for shot during a wildly entertaining second half and Smith-Toulouse subbed in sophomore Corrin Stabile, providing Lukens a breather on the defensive end.

“Hall is great player. She’s such an explosive scorer that we wanted to try and slow her down with Nikki, because Nikki and is 5’9” and she’s always our dynamic defender, but I knew it wasn’t sustainable for 32 minutes and Corrin is such a good on-ball defender. Nikki was being asked to do a lot like she always is on the offensive end, so we tried to give her a break.”

Rocky Hill’s adaptable and athletic lineup allowed Smith-Toulouse to switch between the team’s harassing man-to-man press and a zone defense, which stymied the Bears offense for long stretches Monday night.

The fifth-year head coach also tried to control the paint offensively when Stonington switched up their defensive strategy.

“I love Stonington. I think they’re a great team and they’re very well coached. We were ready for some of the staples that they have and we were prepared. They’re a 32 minute team man-to-man team but they went zone so they opened up the middle for us a lot and we just tried to exploit it.”

Seniors Grace Moore and Grace Fisher were the benefactors. Moore finished with 10 points, including six in the final quarter, and Fisher added nine.

As she has done all season, Moore gave the team a ton of energy off the bench and once again came up big in the clutch.

Clinging to a five-point lead in the fourth quarter, Moore grabbed an offensive rebound following a missed free throw and scored, giving the Terriers a 49-42 with just over a minute to play in regulation.

“She’s had a remarkable postseason. She’s been great all year and what you saw tonight has been the entire postseason for her. To have that type of athletic IQ on the floor is priceless,” Smith-Toulouse said of Moore, who also drew a charge on the defensive end as soon as she checked in the game in the first quarter, “I tell her all the time that I think she’s one of the best sixth men in the state. As a kid that’s competitive that’s kind of hard to hear sometimes but what she brings to the table night in and night out is irreplaceable.”

Senior Lizzy Denardo and sophomore Aleksa Peterson each chipped in with six points apiece in the landmark victory.

Rocky Hill had reached the quarterfinals because of a pair of home wins over East Catholic (54-27) and Seymour (62-44) in the first two rounds of Class M play.

The win over Seymour looked as if it would be the final home game of the season for the sixth-seeded Terriers, but the team received surprising news following the victory.

“We won and my trainer told me in my ear that St. Paul lost,” Smith-Toulouse recalled when hearing that #14 Stonington had upset #3 St. Paul, “I brought the players all back and told them that we have one more home game and they went bananas.”

Stonington’s second-round upset allowed the Terriers to create history inside the gym where the team’s five seniors have made their home for the past four seasons. The proud coach couldn’t have asked for a better finish at home for Steinman, Moore, Fisher, Denardo, and Kiana Lebron-Rivera.

“This is how you do it. This is how you end a career on the floor that you’ve helped build. These seniors have built a foundation of success here for this program and to have your last possible game at home and to win it and advance the semifinals for the first time in school history, I couldn’t imagine anything better for them.”          

The team almost surpassed another milestone last Friday night, but fell to #2 East Haven, 56-52, in the semifinal round. A win would have propelled the Terriers into the Class M title game at Mohegan Sun and Rocky Hill led for a majority of the game until a late rally by East Haven earned them a spot in the championship game and ended the high school careers for the handful of unforgettable seniors at Rocky Hill.

In defeat, Lukens scored 19 points more points and in the third quarter surpassed the 1000-point mark for her high school career.

The prolific scorer is just getting started and will be back on the court next winter as the Terriers aim to make their sixth straight tournament appearance under Smith-Toulouse.   

The history-making girls weren’t the only ones at the school making headlines on basketball courts. The boys team finished an up-and-down regular season at 8-12, earned the #26-seed in Division IV, but turned into a pack of ravaging road dawgs in the postseason.
In the opening round they upset #7 Plainfield, 62-50, behind 15 points from Will White and 14 more from Riley Donovan. Then they muscle their way into New Haven and knocked off #10 Amistad, 64-53, in round two last Friday night, thanks to 16 points apiece from White and Andrew DiMatteo.

All in all it’s been a very interesting and successful season on the local courts.

Senior #23 Samantha Steinman guards the inbounds with sophomore #25 Aleksa Peterson

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Ice Hockey Tournament Action

Newington co-op defeated Housatonic/NW/Wamogo 3-2 in overtime to notch a thrilling home victory the opening round of the Division III tournament. Matt Lavoie scored the game-winning goal in the extra session, while Kyle Bucher and Ethan Ranger netted goals in regulation.

The #8 Indians fell to top-seed Staples 7-3 in the second round, marking the end of a 14-8 season.  

Co-op Wethersfield/Middletown/Rocky Hill/Plainville also advanced to the second round in Division III play, easily defeating Brookfield/Bethel/Danbury 7-2. Junior Ben Mroczka tallied a hat trick and freshman Aaron Cholewa added another goal and two assists.

The #7 Eagles were edged by second-seed Enfield/East Granby/Stafford 2-1 in the second round, despite another goal from Cholewa and 26 saves from junior goaltender Jake Peckrul.