Ridgefield Girls Basketball Shakes Off Slow Start To Advance In FCIAC Playoffs

After a sluggish start, the Ridgefield girls basketball team pulled away in the second half Saturday to defeat No. 7 Norwalk 52-37 in the quarterfinals of the FCIAC playoffs.

Molly Welch scored 21 points to lead the second-seeded Tigers, who turned up the defense pressure in the second half, holding the Bears to 10 points.  Most of Ridgefield's 21 steals came after the intermission.

The Tigers (17-4) awakened from their first-half slumber after trailing 27-26 at the intermission against the stubborn Bears.

“Always when we are losing, we think defense first," Welch said.  "Coach (Katie Smith) didn’t have to say anything at halftime other than, 'Now'!" 

The Tigers advanced to face No. 3 seed New Canaan in the semifinals on Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Bridgeport's Webster Bank Arena. The Rams defeated Danbury in another quarterfinal on Saturday.

During the first half, however, Ridgefield's spot in the semifinals appeared to be in jeopardy.

“We did not convert in the first half on the fastbreak," Smith said. “They got back on defense better in the first half, but I think our transition game got them tired in the second half.

After Norwalk (13-8) jumped out to a 7-2 lead, Ridgefield battled back to go 12-11 at the end of the first quarter.

However, led by Katie Schmidt, who tallied a team-high 13 points, Norwalk scored the final seven points of the first half to take a one-point lead to the locker room.

Ridgfield had built a 17-13 lead early in the second quarter.

The Tigers finally took over in the third quarter, allowing only four points to forge a 39-31 lead.

Ridgefield then led by as many as 17 points in the fourth quarter at 48-31. Norwalk did not score its first basket in the period until less than three minutes remained in the game.

"We made some adjustments at halftime to really shut down their post play and up our defense and our transition game came around," Ridgefield point guard Lauren Eckstrom said.

Smith credited Kathryn Cholko’s leadership and defense as reasons the Tigers were able to respond in the second half.

“I told them this would not be an easy game," Smith said. "It was going to be a fight and Cholko’s teammates look to her for energy and leadership. She really helped us get our transition game going.”