Girls Basketball responds well in win

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

By MATT STRAUB
STAFF WRITER

NEWINGTON — The Newington girls basketball team was on a mission Monday night against New Britain. The Indians, after a 5-2 start during which both losses came in the final seconds — including one at the buzzer — Newington was hammered by Hall Friday night 70-35 in West Hartford. By the time Monday’s home game with the Hurricanes came around, Newington had 48 hours to stew over its only poor performance of the season and build up motivation to erase it from memory with a better one.

“I wrote on the board before the game, how are we going to respond to where we are,” Newington coach Rick Bangs said. “Obviously I was really happy with the response.”

The immediate response was a 13-0 lead sparked by great defense, transition offense and offensive rebounding. The Indians’ first four baskets all came on offensive rebounds. While Stasha Greenalch and Kayla Guest got most of the glory for their point totals, Newington’s loaded frontcourt made the Indians’ rebounding advantage noticeable.

“We have players who really are willing to accept their roles,” Bangs said. “Someone like Stephanie Kowalski who isn’t the biggest player on earth but she takes pride in boxing out. Carolyn boxed out really well. Kayla Guest was great on the boards. Even Ashleigh Beauford, as a guard, uses her athleticism well.”

Newington demonstrated plenty of athleticism on its fast break. After opening up the lead with rebounding, Newington really broke the game open by getting out in transition after getting defensive rebounds or by forcing turnovers with their strong play in the middle. In the third quarter, when the lead grew insurmountable, Newington created longer rebounds by sitting in a 2-3 zone which caused New Britain to take, and miss, a number of outside jumpers. The Indians’ athleticism was on display even in the zone, as they managed to close out on whichever Hurricane they had goaded into settling for a jump shot.

“We talked about rotating out onto shooters, and I think that made a difference,” Bangs said. “We’re very long defensively, especially up top, and I think that took some of their jump shooting away. When we got the defensive rebounds, we were able to get out on the break.”

The first few minutes of each half were huge for Newington, which reestablished itself as a player in the CCC by giving Bangs the exact response he had been seeking. After a bad night Friday, the Indians once again looked like a team capable of making noise later this season by harkening back to the way they played at the start of it.

“You always want to get off to a good start. The way we started, that’s where we want to be,” Bangs said. “We want to get back to being that December team which was a possession away from being undefeated, was hungry, and got after it every game. That’s who I saw [Monday].”

Bangs saw a team which once again looked like its old self. The Indians didn’t just win Monday, they made a statement. They’re back. 

Courtesy of the NB Herald

Friday, January 10, 2014
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Thursday, January 16, 2014
Girls Basketball loses in OT to #7 Farmington
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