Hall Girls Basketball Earns 5th Seed in LL Tournament

When the girls basketball team begins March with a first-round game in the Class LL tournament, the players won’t care how January began. But it wouldn't hurt to remember February’s start.

“It was almost like watching an auto race and you run out of gas and can’t make it to the finish line. It was hard to watch,” Hall coach Jeffrey Kaplowitz said.

Hall opened January with a 13-point victory over Farmington. On Feb. 3, Farmington overcame a 16-point fourth-quarter deficit and ended Hall’s 12-game winning streak, 45-42.

“Every missed shot, every turnover that we made in the fourth quarter, they made us pay,” Kaplowitz said. “That’s how you lose a game like that.”

Hall, which won its first CCC West title since 1985, made the mistake of looking ahead, Kaplowitz said. On Tuesday, Hall (19-3), the No. 5 seed in Class LL, will focus on Staples (8-12), which squeaked into the tournament at No. 28, losing its final five games.

“You have to play quarter by quarter, timeout to timeout and we’re not going to look past [Staples],” Kaplowitz said. “We unfortunately did that during the season. But as a coach, I can say, remember Farmington; you have to play 32 minutes.”

Hall has had a few days to shake off a CCC tournament loss against Manchester, 63-57.

“I felt we should’ve beaten them,” Kaplowitz said. “We had a very slow start and had difficulty executing in the half-court. Sara [Binkhorst] had only had six points and [Ashley] Perez lit us up for 32 points. It was a tough game.”

Some argue as Binkhorst goes, so goes Hall. The 5-foot-8 senior guard is averaging about 19 points and four assists a game.

“I don’t think it’s as simple as shutting her down,” Kaplowitz said. “Our adjustments worked very well against Manchester but we just ran out of clock. Shannon Griffith had 18, so we do find other people. [Moira] Honyotski is very capable of scoring 20 in a night and has done it in the past. [Anna] Alferi is very capable of doing it too. … I think what happened was there was a sense of frustration at the point guard and we couldn’t get anything really going in the halfcourt.”

Binkhorst surpassed 1,000 points for her career in a 60-56 win Feb. 11 against Newington, the No. 21 seed and a potential second-round opponent.

“We’ve battled them this season,” Kaplowitz said. “We’ve beaten them twice and it’s always hard the third time. I’m sure [coach] Al Ford has figured out some kind of strategy to go against us.”

Honyotski averages nearly 10 points and six assists a game and has 200 rebounds. Griffith averages nine rebounds. And “Alferi is probably our toughest player, very strong inside, and [Ariana] Nestler is always in the right position defensively. She’s just a competitor,” Kaplowitz said.

Freshmen Allyson Swaby and Alannah Boyle and sophomore Hayley Mullins give Hall options off the bench.

Trumbull is the top seed in LL followed by Mercy, Manchester and Holy Cross, which looms as Hall's potential quarterfinal opponent.

“It’s a one-and-done tournament. That’s what makes it so fun,” Klapowitz said. “It’s a very high intensity challenge and you can’t afford to make mistakes.” … (11-9) was seeded 18th in Class L and will play at No. 15 Brookfield (13-7) Monday. The winner gets No. 2 seed E.O. Smith March 3 in Storrs. … The undefeated NWC boys defeated Farmington 75-44 Thursday night in the CCC tournament and will host Glastonbury in the quarterfinals Saturday at 1 p.m. Hall was eliminated 74-47 by Weaver. The boys CIAC brackets are expected March 2.

Hall/Conard girls hockey in CCGHL playoffs

The Hall/ girls hockey team played Simsbury Thursday night for a chance to advance to the Central Connecticut Girls Hockey League championship game Saturday at Yale’s Ingalls Rink.

It may be Hall/Conard’s last chance to win a CCGHL crown.

The Southern Connecticut Conference is adding girls hockey next season, siphoning six SCC teams from the CCGHL. That would leave Hall/Conard, Simsbury, Notre Dame-Fairfield and Laurelton Hall potentially league-less.

Hall/Conard was 12-3-3 in the regular season and beat Hand 5-0 in the CCGHL quarterfinals Tuesday. SCC commissioner Al Carbone has indicated the 22-team SCC will include the non-SCC teams in its first season.

“This isn’t something that is happening overnight,” Carbone told Dan Nowak of the New Haven Register. “It’s not that what coaches have done in the CCGHL is bad; girls hockey is growing.” … The Hall/Southington boys hockey team (5-11-2) ended Northwest Catholic’s eight-game unbeaten streak with a vital 3-2 victory Wednesday. H/S needs to win its last two games – Conard Saturday (12:45) and Sheehan Monday (7 p.m.) – to qualify for the Division III playoffs. Both games are at . NWC (9-8-2) is already in. … Conard (7-7-4), which , handed former coach Scott Gainey and fifth-ranked Xavier a 4-2 loss Wednesday at the Vet. … sixth-grader Sharon Frankel of West Hartford has been selected to play for Team CT at the New England Yankee Conference Hockey Festival in March. Frankel, who plays varsity hockey for KO, is a product of the West Hartford Youth Hockey Association and also plays for the U-12AA Connecticut Polar Bears.

Conard’s Bello, Muntz, Lancinskas at Open

Newly crowned Class LL champion Johnny Bello of Conard was seeded No. 2 at 140 pounds for the State Open wrestling championships this weekend at the New Haven Athletic Center.

Bello defeated defending LL champion Casey Mitchell of South Windsor 4-3 to win the title, avenging his only loss this season.

Teammates Lucas Muntz (145), second in LL, and Dainius Lancinskas (171), a fourth-place LL finisher, were seeded sixth and 14th.

States for Conard, Hall gymnastics

Conard was seeded third in Class L and Hall sixth in Class M for the gymnastics divisional championships Saturday in New Milford.

Dana Feigenbaum leads Conard with 36.59 average all-around score – fifth best in the CIAC ratings.

Feigenbaum is rated 19th in the vault, fifth in uneven bars and balance beam, and fourth in the floor exercise. Katie Newton and Taylor Hadra are ranked in the top 40 in the beam and floor. Shannon Bouvier is top-40 in the bars and floor and Dana Hadra in the bars. Hall’s Annie Tracy is top-40 in the beam.

Honors for St. Joseph women’s basketball

freshman Devon Diliberto was named rookie of the year by the Great Northeast Athletic Conference and Kim Martin earned coach of year.

Diliberto, from Waterbury, has averaged a team-high 15.9 points a game and set a single-season school record with 59 three-pointers. She is second in assists (64) and third in steals (53).

St. Joseph (19-6) has tied a school record for victories, including an 86-70 quarterfinal victory Tuesday in the GNAC tournament.