Danbury Girls Outlast Trumbull In FCIAC Title Game, 54-39

Things looked promising for the Trumbull girls basketball team.

The Eagles had climbed out of an early 11-point hole to forge a tie midway through the third quarter, but then Danbury showed why it hasn't lost all season.

After a timeout, the Hatters scored on four straight possessions, then pulled away late to defeat defending champion Trumbull 54-39 in the FCIAC finals Thursday night  before a packed house at Fairfield Ludlowe.

The Hatters finally gave veteran coach Jackie DiNardo, who is in her 25th season, a title. And they did it without their best player Casey Smith, who suffered a torn ACL in Danbury's 51-38 semifinal win over Wilton and is lost for the season.

"I think Danbury played with a tremendous amount of emotion and passion," said Trumbull coach Steve Tobitsch, whose team dropped to 19-4. "Their leader and senior went down. They bounced back. I give them a lot of credit for that."

Danbury (23-0) was led by sophomore twins and co-MVPs Rachel and Rebecca Gartner, who scored 19 and 15 points, respectively. Uniqua Turner chipped in with 11.

"If I go back and look over all the 25 years of all the women that I have either put in college or have graduated that come back to see me and are here tonight wishing me luck, that's worth more than a championship," DiNardo said.

With Smith cheering from the bench on crutches, the Hatters were hot from the outside in the first quarter as the Gartners each scored seven points in the period to stake Danbury to an 18-7 lead.

Rebecca Gartner credited Smith for delivering a motivational speeach in the team huddle on the court just before the opening tip. The team wore bands with Smith's No. 10 on them.

"She was with us no matter what," Rebecca Gartner said. "Even if she wasn't playing with us, we still had her with us."

The Eagles regrouped in the second period, allowing only six points, and pulled within 24-19 at the half on a driving layup by Katherine O'Leary with 17 seconds remaining.

With Trumbull down 28-21, Alexa Pfohl's 3-pointer ignited a 9-2 run that saw the Eagles pull even at 30-30 on a layup by Erin Moore (team-high 14 points) with 3:14 left.

"I told our girls in the locker room, 'Hold your heads high, the season is definitely nor over,'' Tobitsch said. "We want to make a strong appearance in the state tournament, but I don't think we matched the same energy or intensity that (Danbury) might have had.

"We made a run in the third, we tied it up, so we were right there with them. We just didn't get over the hump tonight."

Trumbull turned the ball over on its next four possessions and Danbury converted to go up 38-30 on Rachel Gartner's jumper with 1:25 left in the third period.

Trumbull got within 38-34 on Alexa Pfohl's 3-pointer with 18 seconds left in the third quarter. But Danbury held the Eagles scoreless for the first three minutes of the fourth period, opening a 45-34 cushion on Rachel Gartner's runner with 5:04 remaining.

During practice Wednesday, DiNardo reminded her team of the need to "finish" without Smith.

"I kept pushing them all through practice yesterday, "Hey, you know what, Casey got us here, now let's finish,'" She said. "'She got us here, now let's bring it home.'"

Danbury delivered the finishing touches in the final minute as the final score represented the Hatters' biggest lead.

Victoria Pfohl added 12 points and Alexa Pfohl contributed nine for the Eagles, who could see the Hatters again in the quarterfinals of the Class LL state tournament.

 .