East Hampton Rallies for First Victory

East Hampton used an 11-0 fourth-quarter run for a 30-21 victory in a girls’ basketball game Saturday night in Westbrook.

The Bellringers had led throughout the first three quarters, but baskets by Jordan Shamas and Jessica Forrest to start the fourth gave the Knights the lead.

Those would be the final points for Westbrook.

Two free throws by Sarah Denihan after the senior point guard was fouled on a drive to the basket tied the score at 21 with 5:26 remaining. Two more free throws by junior Adrianna Zawodniak, who was fouled trying to put back an offensive rebound, gave the Bellringers the lead.

The big shot was provided by Denihan, who hit a deep two-pointer with 2:10 left for a 25-21 lead.

“The play was designed and we executed it right,” said Denihan, who wasn’t interested in taking credit for the shot. “It was the whole team. It worked out well.”

After a tie-ball gave possession back to East Hampton with 55 seconds to go, Ashley Chasse inbounded to Denihan who sprinted up court and passed to Klaudia Komarnicka, who took the ball strong to the basket for a 27-21 lead. Two free throws by Chasse and one by Denihan completed the Bellringers’ run and sealed their first victory of the season.

“That’s certainly a testament to playing a very difficult scrimmage schedule and opening up with Cromwell,” East Hampton coach Shaun Russell said. “It gets your attention and gets your focus right away on what’s important, which is the next possession. At that point in the game, you can’t hang your head and wonder what happened. You have to react and make something happen the next several minutes and I thought we did that. I didn’t see our heads go down, I thought the defensive intensity picked up, we even forced a couple turnovers in that run which we converted nothing out of.”

East Hampton (1-1) had taken control of the game with an 8-0 first-quarter lead but problems on offense for the second straight game prevented it from adding much to the lead. The Bellringers led by as many as nine in the second quarter and took a 16-7 lead into halftime.

“We have a lot of inexperienced players, a lot of new freshmen,” Denihan said. “We have to work on our offense more. It comes down to making more shots. I think that, compared with the Cromwell game, we executed much better today and we were able to get a lot more open shots, but it’s definitely getting better from practice to practice.”

Westbrook’s zone defense caused problems throughout for the Bellringers, who had some success against it with dribble penetration but little if any by way of the pass.

This was evident in the third quarter, where East Hampton failed to score a basket until the final minute. The cold spell allowed Westbrook (0-2) to get back in the game with an 8-1 run to tie the score at 17 before Chasse scored on a hook shot to give the Bellringers a 19-17 lead entering the fourth.

“It was a bit choppy on offense. It was very difficult to get a flow going tonight with the zone,” Russell said. “We did get some inside-out movement. I thought we had some decent ball reversals. I thought early we had a lot of good looks. In the first half we had three or four real good offensive rebound putback opportunities, which we didn’t finish but certainly we’re approaching it the right way.”

For its part, Westbrook had its own issues on offense, getting shut out in the first quarter, missing several second-chance opportunities on the offensive boards and probably finishing with as many traveling violations as field goals. Some of it was self-inflicted, but the Bellringers defense was strong again and the Knight’s never looked comfortable when facing the press.

“I was real happy with the defensive effort again tonight,” Russell said. “We made it difficult, made the game 84 feet which I think for us, is the way we’re going to have to play against everybody. Make them earn every inch.”

East Hampton continues to be a work in progress two games into the season. Still there have been plenty of positives for Russell to build from, including the defense - which did not allow a basket in transition, rebounding and the poise his team showed in the fourth quarter. The Bellringers also shot 14 of 16 from the free-throw line on Saturday.

“The effort has been great, I have no issues there,” he said. “Offense, we’re going to keep having to work, that’s all. We got to keep working.”

Denihan led all scorers with 10 points. Chasse added nine and Komarnicka, seven for East Hampton. Kaitlyn MacMillan and Robin Schreck scored six each for Westbrook.

East Hampton next plays on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. against Hyde Leadership at Truman School in New Haven.