Suffield Girls Basketball Grabs 13th Win

Finding a way to win when you come out flat it is the hallmark of a team with character.

On Friday night, the Suffield girls basketball team dug deep in the key moments to hold off a tough Granby (6-7) team and earn a 43-38 victory. The triumph gives the Wildcats 13 wins against four losses and some much needed time to practice.

For Granby the loss snaps the Bears six game winning streak.

“It was sloppy, but I will take it,” head coach Jeremiah Brown said after the win. “We haven’t had a lot of practice time with the snow days and we had back-to-back games, so it wasn’t out best game but we did enough.”

Neither team shot well and both consistently turned the ball over. The officials made nine traveling calls in the second and third quarters alone.

Brenna Lowe and Rachel Tedone tallied four points each for Suffield in the first half.

Granby scored only 12 points in the opening 16 minutes, but trailed by just ten. Kylnn Kane and Kristen Endorf had five points each for the visitors.

The third quarter was back and forth as Suffield stretched their lead to as much as 13 points and Granby climbed back to make the score 27-21. The period ended with the Wildcasts seemingly in charge at 33-23.

Granby wasn't going to go away quietly, though. The Bears chipped away with Shantelle Starling and Rachel Horr doing the damage down low. With 3:47 left, Horr snagged a rebound, and her put back closed Granby's deficit to three at 39-36. The center had sparked a 13-7 fourth quarter run.

Back-to-back misses on the front end of one and one’s from the free throw line by Brianna Bishop and Ashley Gleason gave Granby good opportunities to knot the game, however, the visitors missed a poor three attempt and turned the ball over.

Suffield tried a press after Bishop’s missed free throw, but Horr got free and Granby was now down only 39-38 with 2:36 to go.

Suffield did not panic and Granby made the key error that turned the tide. A bad, backcourt foul by Granby’s Sara Eckhardt on Tedone put the Wildcat forward on the line for two shots. She calmly sunk both and the home team held on from there.

Neither team finished their easy shots or sank free throws in the final two minutes until Gleason hit two charity shots in the final 20 seconds to account for the margin.

“It has a lot to do with a lack of basketball knowledge and experience,” Brown said. “We have a freelance offense, but we are just not moving well without the ball, getting good shots and not boxing out defensively.”

He added that the absence of senior Stephanie Guminiak, who injured her ankle against East Windsor, played a role in Friday's game. (Suffield defeated East Windsor 49-41 on Thursday night.)

“She might have helped,” he said, “but seriously, we just need to keep working and get better on our mistakes. It’s late in the season and there is not a lot of time left.”

Gleason led the Wildcats in scoring with nine points while Tedone added eight for the winners. The difference in the game was on the free throw line where Suffield made eight attempts and Granby went 0-8.

Suffield next faces Enfield on Tuesday night at home.