South Windsor Girls Basketball Gets Signature Victory Over Weaver

The South Windsor High girls basketball team earned the signature victory it was looking for this season, defeating defending state Class M champion Weaver High 48-39 at home on Friday night.

Indeed, despite compiling an impressive 7-1 record heading into their game against Weaver, the Bobcats had only faced one serious challenge - against Glastonbury in the second game of the season, which led to their only loss, 45-37.

In their seven wins prior to Friday night, South Windsor’s average margin of victory was just over 42 points per game.

Weaver entered Friday's game with an identical 7-1 record to go along with a distinct height advantage in the front court.

“It was a test for us,” South Windsor head coach Don Leclerc said of Weaver. “I think our girls responded well. We played hard. Sometimes you’ve got to will things and gut it out. And I think they willed and gutted it out tonight.”

The Bobcats (8-1) overcame the height disadvantage by overwhelming the Beavers (7-2) with quickness and depth. South Windsor dressed 14 varsity players, while Weaver only had eight players on its bench, one of whom - starting guard Kamari Mack - was injured midway through the third quarter.

“We set our emphasis on our defense,” LeClerc said. “We know our defense is going to propel us. That’s what we stress. And our offense will come from our defense.”

True to form, only two South Windsor players scored in double digits - junior guard Christina Rozie had a team-high 13 points, while junior forward Olivia Bolden scored 10 - but seven players were on the scoring sheet. Kaitlyn LaBonte scored 8 pints, Amy McConnell and Kristina Russo each had 7, Rebecca Karlins had 2 and Jessica Cooney had 1.

In contrast, just four Weaver players scored points in the game. The Bobcats had to overcome a terrific performance by Beavers senior guard Zi’Tazhia Parker, who scored a game-high 22 points to lead the Beavers, while Amanda Stewart scored 9, Alyssa Stewart had 6 and Della Gunn had 2 in the loss.

South Windsor extended broke open a close game by going on 12-5 run to start the third quarter to take a 33-23 advantage with 4:20 left in the period.

Weaver’s Amanda Stewart managed to close the game to six points - 35-29 - with a layup with 51 seconds left in the third quarter, but that was as close as the Beavers would get the remainder of the game.

South Windsor took control of the game at the beginning of the fourth quarter, going on an 11-5 run, capped by Russo 3-pointer with 3:57 left in the game to give the Bobcats a 46-34 lead.

The Beavers were simply worn down by the sheer number of players that South Windsor was able to deploy throughout the game. It also didn’t help that Mack was the second Weaver player to go down with an injury this year. Starting point guard Catherine Cruz was lost for the season in a game against East Hartford in mid-December.

“The last two years we were injury-free,” Weaver head coach Wendell Williams said. “Every team goes through it. But we’ll be back. It’s only our second loss of the year out of nine games.”

Still, despite his team’s injuries, Williams credited South Windsor for it’s hard work, particularly on the defensive end. Glastonbury is still the only team that has cracked the 40-point barrier against the Bobcats this year.

“I told Coach LeClerc three years ago, ‘You’ve got a real solid group coming up,’” Williams said. “I knew he had a solid team. They’re experienced, they know how to play together and they’ve been together for a while.”