Ellington Outlasts Suffield in Tense NCCC Semifinal Matchup

Ellington has not had to deal with defeat lately and narrowly avoided having to do so on Wednesday.

Karlee Alves made a late free throw and the Purple Knights turned up the defense in the second half to earn a 49-48 victory over Suffield on Wednesday in the semifinals of the North Central Connecticut Conference (NCCC) tournament.

Ellington (18-3) has won 13 straight and will play for the league title on Friday. The second-seeded Purple Knights last lost on Jan. 6 at home to Suffield, 48-38.

“Amazing,” said Ellington coach Lauren Lovetere-Beeler. “I had my doubts. They outshot us by so much in the first half and they just outhustled us in the first half.  In the end we kept our cool and our defense stepped up.”

It looked like the Wildcats were going to get the better of the Knights once again as the game began. Suffield led by as many as 11 in the first half and was up 47-42 midway through the fourth quarter on a runner by senior Stephanie Fahey.

But Ellington held Suffield to just one point, a free throw by Fahey, the rest of the way and made enough plays to win the game.

Ellington senior Julie Gage scored 19 points and hit a jumper on the baseline to cut Suffield's lead to 47-44. Brittany Lemire followed with a layup on a fast break and the Knights stood behind the Wildcats by just one point, 47-46, with 2:51 to play.

“Julie really held her ground out there and that was important for us,” Lovetere-Beeler said. “She made some big shots and did a good job on the boards.”

Turnovers haunted both teams down the stretch, especially Suffield. Fahey answered Lemire’s basket with a free throw to make the score 48-46 with two minutes to go, but the Wildcats did not score another point.

“We just tried to take it one play at a time,” Ellington guard Kelly Conley said. “We just slowed it down and tried to take it one play at a time, get a score and then go down and get a stop on defense and take it down again.”

Just a sophomore, Lemire played like a seasoned veteran down the stretch. Her jumper from the baseline with 1:31 remaining tied the game, 48-48.

Lemire’s two big baskets set the stage for Alves, who made one of two free throws with 29 seconds to play. Alves' shot from the charity stripe gave Ellington a 49-48 lead.

Suffield committed a turnover but was momentarily off the hook when Conley, the star of Ellington's season, missed the front end of a one-and-one.

The Wildcats drove to the hoop but came up empty, turning over the rock once again on a traveling call with .3 seconds left. The Knights quickly inbounded the ball to seal the win.

Suffield got off to a fast start and led 19-13 after the first quarter. The offense was still clicking in the second as it ran its lead into double digits.

“In the first half it was them playing their game and we were just out there letting them,” Gage said. “In the second half we played our game and just weren’t going to let them beat us again.”

Suffield's Ashley Gleason hit a free throw to make the score 25-14 with 5:50 left in the first half. Gage helped keep Ellington in the mix, scoring six points in the final 1:04 of the second quarter to cut the Suffield lead to 32-25 at the break.

The Wildcats managed just 7 points in the third quarter and 9 points in the fourth.

“Execution. Execution on offense and making layups,” said Suffield coach Jeremiah Brown when asked the difference between the Wildcat offense in the first and second half. “We had plenty of opportunities but we missed layups. When you have those chances you have to finish.”

The second leading scorer in the NCCC, Conley had a relatively quiet 10 points for Ellington and Alves finished with eight.

Junior guard Brianna Bishop scored 11 points and Jessica Flagg added 10 for Suffield (16-6), which will play in the consolation game on Friday and turn its attention to the Class M state tournament. The No. 11 seed, the Wildcats open with a home game vs. No. 22 Bloomfield on March 1.

“Now we have states and we have a chance to make up for this loss,” Brown said. “We need to fix what we did wrong tonight and get ready for states. I think they will respond well. Bloomfield will be a tough matchup, they are a scrappy team.”

The fourth seed in Class M, Ellington will host the winner of the Sheehan-Ledyard play-in game on March 1.

But before that, the Knights will play in the NCCC championship game on Friday at 7 p.m. at Windsor Locks High School. Ellington will take on East Granby who upset Avon on Wednesday.