Lady Panthers taking care of business

Katy Rafferty, with the ball, looks for room in the lane in the Lady Panthers’ Feb. 9 game against Kolbe Cathedral. (Ken Morse photo)

By KEN MORSE Special to the Middlebury Bee Intelligencer

There are basically three parts to every season: the fast start, the peak and taking care of business. The fast start establishes a team as the team to beat. The peak is when a team has survived the valley of a few tough games and has put together a couple of signature wins to get back on track. And finally, there is the part of the season the Pomperaug girls basketball team is in: It’s quite simply called “taking care of business.”

The Lady Panthers started taking care of business last week when they ground out a 42-41 win over a very good 12-5 Notre Dame of Fairfield team. Tuesday, Feb. 9, at the Panthers Den, the Pomperaug girls were at it again, and just for good measure they added a little wrinkle to their repertoire. The Lady Panthers stared an 11-point deficit in the face, shrugged it off and got by a very tough 12-5 Kolbe Cathedral team in a 59-50 victory.

While the Lady Panthers were taking care of business, the final pieces were being put in place for a Colonial Division-clinching conclusion. Second-place Newtown dropped a tough 48-45 decision to Masuk Tuesday, and third place Barlow, stunned by a buzzer beater in Stratford, settled for a 49-48 loss.

As of Feb. 10, Pomperaug is 7-2 in the Colonial Division. Newtown has fallen to 6-4, and Barlow has fallen out of the picture at 5-5 with three games remaining for the soon-to-be-crowned-division-champion Panthers.

“Facing Kolbe, we know they are a physical team,” said Lauren Rubinstein. “We knew what was coming, and we handled it well. We have a lot of heart, and it was a total team effort.”

It did take a total team effort to get by a quality team like Kolbe but Rubinstein led the way, scoring a season-high 23 points, launching four 3-pointers, dishing out six assists, pulling down five rebounds and coming away with four steals.

For as many big shots as Rubinstein knocked down, she also took quite a few shots from the very physical Kolbe defense and made them pay the price, hitting a perfect 5 for 5 from the free-throw line.

Karli Opalka quickly established her game under the boards with 13 points and 14 rebounds She got all the help she needed with Rachel Bonannzio’s eight points, six rebounds and three blocks becoming a force in the lane.

Pomperaug got out to an early 8-3 advantage, and by the end of the opening quarter, they were clinging to a 12-8 lead. Claudine Legato hit a shot in the lane, and Megan Todhunter added a little more presence under the basket as the Panthers forged an 18-15 lead when Bonnanzio hit a pull-up jumper off the window.

With 4:48 left in the half, Kolbe made the lights flicker as they went on a 16-2 run and almost blew Pomperaug right out of their own gym. Trinity Bravo (12 points) scored six points in the run, with Arysel Flores and Kayla Weaver (11 points) hitting 3-point shots that got the Panthers’ attention and opened up a 31-20 lead for Kolbe.

Trailing by 11 points with 1:28 left in the half, Pomperaug went into business mode and just started making plays. Allison McCormick hit a jumper in the lane, followed by Katy Rafferty (7 points) and Opalka hitting free throws, and then Rubinstein posted up and drove a 3-pointer through the cylinder as the Panthers went into the locker room at the half trailing by four with the score 31-27.

It may not have looked like much at the time, but that run to close the gap decided the game right then and there. The Panthers emerged from the locker room with a swagger in their step, and Rafferty (four rebounds, three assists, three steals) seemed to be in on every big play.

“It’s the end of the season, and everyone is fighting for a higher seeding in the playoffs,” said Rafferty. “This is when it counts, and we just needed to pull together as a team and make it happen.”

Rubinstein took a pair of passes from Caly Farina (five steals, three assists) and drilled two 3-pointers through the net to put Pomperaug back on top 35-33 with 3:07 remaining in the third quarter.

The Pomperaug defense rose to the occasion after allowing Kolbe to score 23 points in the second quarter and shut them down, giving them just six points in the third quarter. Rafferty continued to make the big play when she hit a 3-pointer that beat the buzzer for a 42-37 Panther lead going into the final quarter.

“We came out and tried a new defense,” said Farina. “For trying something new, we actually did a really good job with it and we were able to shutdown their offense.”

Kolbe went on to score only 19 points in the second half, but that didn’t stop them from continuing with their physical defense. Rubinstein went down the lane and got hammered, limping to the sideline while McCormick came on and sank both free throws.

Kolbe had one more run left in them as they closed within 46-45 with 3:18 left in the game. Rubinstein came back in, taking a pass from Rafferty and depositing it in the net to go along with three more free throws to spark a 9-0 run, and this one was safely in the win column.

Pomperaug will be at Masuk Thursday, Feb. 11, and then host Newtown Friday, Feb. 12, before concluding the regular season Tuesday, Feb. 16, in Bethel. The South West Conference quarterfinals will be held Friday, Feb. 19, with Pomperaug hosting an opponent who is yet to be determined.