Hamden Dominates For First-Ever State Girls Basketball Title

UNCASVILLE, CT — The nearly packed lower level of the Mohegan Sun arena was expecting a heavyweight matchup pitting two, undefeated 20-0 squads for the state title.

But Saturday's Class LL girls basketball championship game was not Ali-Frazier. It was more like Tyson-Spinks.

In a surprising blowout, the Hamden High School Green Dragons were, simply, too much Saturday for the Fairfield Ludlow Falcons. It wasn't close as Hamden won, 63-48.

On a night where two perfect teams showed up to the big casino in Uncasville, only one team was perfect in an imperfect game.

And Hamden head coach Amanda Forcucci couldn't have been more proud.

After all, she said after the school's first-ever state title, it was just a basketball game.

"There's definitely pressure, of course, but we tried not to talk about it," Forcucci said.

Key to Hamden's steady performance was work done prior to, simply, characterize the championship as no different than any other contest.

"We approach every single game the same, " Forcucci said.

As a result, Hamden dominated a team just as capable of dominating them.

Going into the game, both teams enjoyed 20-0 regular seasons. Both teams steamrolled their way through CIAC Class LL tournament blowouts en route to the title.

In fact, Forcucci said she, even, was surprised at the outcome. She said she didn't envision a blowout win for her squad.

"Absolutely not," Forcucci said. "We knew Ludlowe was an amazing team."

Hamden was led by junior Leah Philpotts, who dumped in 28 points and led the team with five assists.

Meanwhile, senior Gianna Robert led Hamden with 8 rebounds and 9 points.

The game was never close, with Hamden jumping out to a 12-4 lead after one quarter, then 32-14 at the half.

Hamden maintained the lead and, aside from a few late baskets caused by turnovers at game's end, Fairfield Ludlowe was never competitive, despite competing hard.

Despite a tough end to the season, Ludlowe only had one loss.

They were led by senior captain Rory Kudzy, who poured in 19 points and had 2 assists in her final high school game.

Madison Roman, a senior, led the team with 9 rebounds and had 6 points in her final game for Ludlowe.

For all of the stats on the game, courtesy of the CIAC, click on this link.