Norwalk Girls Basketball Team Defeats St. Joseph

Katie Schmidt scored 18 points and Alexis Noonan added 16 Friday to lead the Norwalk girls basketball team to a 61-53 victory over St. Joseph.

The  Lady Bears (10-6, 12-6) survived a late charge by the Lady Cadets to prevail on senior night at the Norwalk gym.

The hosts appeared to have done enough to secure the victory, building a 23-point lead with three minutes to play in the third quarter, but the defending FCIAC champions stormed back and were able to climb within seven points late in the fourth quarter. 

Norwalk surged out to an early lead, almost singlehandedly behind the efforts of Schmidt.

The junior guard was flying around on both ends of the court, culminating with a 3-point shot at the buzzer to give the Bears a 16-6 first-quarter advantage. She scored all of her 18 points in the first half, the last of which gave the Lady Bears a 35-14 cushion late in the second period.

Norwalk relied on its strength and size in the frontcourt for most of the evening. The combination of Alexis Noonan and Rottisha Lewis allowed the Bears to dominate the boards, which prevented their opponents from getting second chances on the offensive end.

Noonan recorded a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds and Lewis added 10 points and 16 boards.

Lady Bears coach Richard Fuller was proud of the effort his team put in, specifically Lewis.

“She is a tremendous basketball player," Fuller said. "She is a hard worker in practice and goes all out during these games.”

St. Joseph (11-5, 12-6) entered the final period down 47-27 and immediately got to work at narrowing the gap.

Junior guard Nancy Stablein caught fire for the visitors, drilling three 3-pointers to lead the Cadets on a 18-4 charge. However, they were unable to get any closer as Noonan and Lewis each had putbacks to finally put away the visitors.

Stablein scored 14 of her 15 points in the fourth quarter for the Cadets, while Jessica Jowdy chipped in with 14 for St. Joseph.

Known for its excellent outside shooting, St. Joseph was just 5of-21 from 3-point range.

The Lady Bears have won five of six and held on to the No. 7 spot in the FCIAC playoff race.

“I believe in our team and more importantly, the girls believe in each other," Fuller said. "We do not really worry about the conference race. We want to play out the season and give our best effort every game. If we happen to end up in the race, then we will be happy.”

Norwalk faces a tough challenge in its next contest on Monday, when it visits Trumbull (17-1).