Hall Girls Fall in Class LL Basketball Semfinals, 52-27

Down by 23 points, Sara Binkhorst walked off the court and into an embrace from girls basketball coach Jeffrey Kaplowitz. She joined senior classmates Anna Alferi and Ariana Nestler on the bench. There was an ovation from the Hall faithful.

With 1 minute, 19 seconds to play, a remarkable season was over.

“There’s going to be a lot to miss about this team,” Binkhorst said. “I can’t name it all.”

Career Magnet disrupted Hall on offense and defense in the Class LL semifinals Monday, breaking away from a halftime tie for a 52-27 victory and its third trip to the Mohegan Sun finals in the past four years.

Bria Moore scored 15 points, Ashley Franklin had 12 and Nicole Anderson 11 to lead Career (22-5), which outscored Hall 22-3 in the third quarter to take a commanding 38-19 lead at Sheehan High School in Wallingford.

Binkhorst and Allyson Swaby each had eight points for Hall (22-4).

“First and foremost, our game plan was to take Sara out the game,” Career coach Kevin Walton said. “She’s an unbelievable talent, but we also noticed that everything runs through her. We wanted to take out Sara and No. 23 [Honyotksi] and make the other girls beat us.”

Career succeeded with sheer defensive aggression, quicker feet and superior rebounding.

“We knew they were going to be a physical team.” Binkhorst said. “They bodied us up down low pretty well.”

There were 35 fouls in a physical game that favored Career.

“They were in-your-face, man-to-man, up-tempo. We weren’t used to that kind of team,” Binkhorst said. “They played hard and deserved to win.”

Binkhorst, who scored 32 points against Holy Cross , got untracked briefly in the second quarter. She scored five points in a 9-2 run that gave Hall a 13-12 lead with 2:27 before the break.

Binkhorst closed the period with three free throws – her last points of the game – to tie the score at halftime, 16-16. Career even managed to keep Binkhorst off the free-throw line in the second half.

“I really thought at halftime we were going to be OK because we hung in there,” Kaplowitz said. “But the third quarter was just too tough for us. … They did a great job on Sara Binkhorst. They made sure she didn’t have any open looks.”

Honyotski (one free throw) also was neutralized.

“That’s what we wanted to do, upset their rhythm,” said Walton, whose Career teams won the LL title in 2008 and were second in 2009. “That’s how we play. We understand that defense wins championships. I think the pressure bothered them a little bit.”

Career staggered Hall with an 11-0 run to start the third quarter. Alannah Boyle ended the drought with 3:08 remaining with a deep field goal from the right corner.

“They played with a lot of intensity,” Binkhorst said. “They knew everything we were going to do. They broke down our fast-break and they didn’t let us run on them.”

Career, a two-time state champion, dictated the pace. Hall was unable to run and unable to find a rhythm in the half-court.

“We had a very slow start and it’s been part of our problem for most of the year,” Kaplowitz said. “We just could not execute in the half-court. … We only scored two points in the first 6½ minutes and we came in tied [at halftime]. We said we just have to play the same defense and score and impose our will on the offensive end. Unfortunately that just didn’t happen.”

Career, which was seeded ninth and beat top seed Trumbull in the quarterfinals, will play No. 2 Mercy (24-2) for the championship this weekend. Mercy beat sixth seed Glastonbury (24-3) in the second semifinal, 64-47.

Hall, the CCC West champs and No. 5 seed in LL, were playing in their first tournament semifinal in 34 years.

“This is an exceptional group of young ladies,” Kaplowitz said. “They were tenacious, they hung in and they basically embraced themselves this season as family. … Their character, I think, is unmatched in the state.”

Northwest Catholic 79, Bassick 68: Zack Lewis and Kuran Iverson each scored 20 points and JC Carr had 19 as top-seeded advanced to the Class L boys basketball final four.

NWC (24-1) will play No. 4 seed Lyman Hall (19-5) Thursday at Central Connecticut State in New Britain. No. 3 seed New London (25-0) will play second-seeded Maloney (25-1) in the other semifinal.

Iverson sank a three-pointer for a 69-66 lead with 3 minutes to play and followed his own rebound for a put-back to make it 71-66.

Kyle Greer scored 21 to lead Bassick (20-6).