South Windsor Girls Basketball Rolls Past Simsbury 71-38

Just how good is the South Windsor High girls basketball team’s defense?

Consider this: in two second-half stretches in their 71-38 victory against Simsbury High on Friday night, the Bobcats were held scoreless for a total of eight minutes - the equivalent of an entire quarter. Still, despite the arid spells, the Bobcats outscored the Trojans in both the third and fourth quarters.

“The girls understand that our bread and butter is our defense,” South Windsor head coach Don LeClerc said.

“The girls work hard every single practice and we stress defensive principles. If teams are going to beat us, they’re going to beat us because they’ve earned it and they’re going to work for everything they get.”

It was the fifth consecutive blowout victory for South Windsor (6-1), whose defense is yielding just 27.2 points per game.

The offense, which is as balanced as the defense is tough, isn’t too bad, either. While 11 Bobcats were listed on the scoring sheet on Friday, just two players - Kaitlyn LaBonte and Olivia Bolden - cracked double digits in points (both had 13 apiece). Rounding out the scoring were Amy McConnell, who had 9 points; Kristina Russo had 8; Christina Rozie had 7; Jessica Cooney had 6; Marissa Silverman and Kim Jackson had 4; Emily Ryder had 3; and Sara Jackson and Molly Murphy scored 2 each.

“What makes us unique is that we have a balanced lineup,” said Leclerc, who credited LaBonte's, and Bolden’s efforts off the bench.

The Bobcats had the game in hand by halftime, taking a 38-19 lead into the interval. And, despite being held scoreless for the first five minutes of the third period, the Bobcats managed to build on their lead, taking a 50-26 advantage into the fourth quarter.

Simsbury, for its part, can take some solace in being just the second team to break the 30-point mark against South Windsor this season. Glastonbury, in its 45-37 victory over South Windsor on Dec. 7, is the only other team to score more than 28 points in a game against the Bobcats.

Allie Davis led the Trojans with a game-high 16 points.

“Very aggressive and hard working team,” Leclerc said of Simsbury, who fell to 3-2 on the year. “They should be very proud of their performance tonight.”

Simsbury head coach Jessica Baker, however, said that her young squad still has a lot to learn.

“We have to take a step back and work on the fundamentals,” Baker said. “We have to tighten up and play tougher against each other in practice.”