Pomperaug High School Lady Panthers seniors with their team manager, left to right, Leah Rubinstein, Hayley McCormack (team manager), Rachel Bonnanzio, Caly Farina, Lauren Rubinstein and Katy Rafferty hold Senior Night roses and photo collages. The Lady Panthers won the Colonial Division title on Senior Night. (Ron Farina photo)
By KEN MORSE Special to the Middlebury Bee-Intelligencer #MIDDLEBURY #CT
The Pomperaug girls basketball team clinched the South West Conference Colonial Division title, knocking off second-place Newtown 37-34 last Friday on Senior Night at the Panthers Den. The Lady Panthers now hope to write one more chapter in this storybook season that has Pomperaug ranked as the number two seed at 10-2 in the division and 15-4 overall.
“We all play well together,” said senior tri-captain Lauren Rubinstein, who has committed to playing basketball for Brandeis University next year. “We play with a lot of heart and have had a lot of success in our career. It’s something I will remember for a very long time.”
Standing in the way of a perfect ending to their season is New Fairfield, whose Rebels have gone 39-1 in the regular season over the past two years. But the Lady Panthers have taken on a few tough opponents over the past two weeks, 14-6 Notre Dame of Fairfield and 14-5 Kolbe of Bridgeport, and won both games handily.
“We have been playing together since fifth grade,” said senior tri-captain Katy Rafferty. “It’s definitely going to be an emotional time leaving this place behind. All five of us play so well as a team, and we would like to go out as champions.”
The team fought hard for their win over second-place Newtown. The Nighthawks slowed the game down, and it worked in their favor as Pomperaug held a slim lead with the score 21-18 at the halftime break. It was Senior Night, and emotions were running high as the Panthers said goodbye to a group of seniors who racked up a whole lot of success, going 70-20 over the past four seasons.
“It’s really not any one player, we just work so well together,” said senior Rachel Bonnanzio, who has committed to playing basketball at Keene State. “I think the bigger, the game the more fun it is. We’ve had a lot of wins in the past four years and had a lot of fun, I’m definitely going to miss it a lot.”
In the third quarter against the Nighthawks, the Panthers did what they do best – buckle down on defense, look for the open shot on the perimeter and crash the boards to control the momentum.
Lauren Rubinstein, with 15 points, six steals and three 3-pointers, led the attack with Rafferty and Leah Rubinstein hitting 3-pointers. Sophomore Karli Opalka hit for seven points and pulled down 16 rebounds to control the boards. The Panthers 12-7 edge in the third quarter opened up a 33-25 eight-point lead going into the final quarter.
“I have really enjoyed the past four years playing basketball on this team,” said senior tri-captain Carly Farina. “But I’m going on to play soccer in college for St. Anselm in New Hampshire.”
“It’s been a great experience these last four years,” added senior Leah Rubinstein, who is going on to the University of New Hampshire. “We’ve made some good progress over the past few weeks and have put ourselves in a position to play for a championship.”
The one thing the Lady Panthers have shown over the past few weeks is a resiliency for seeing it through and finishing games. They needed that to close out Newtown and claim the top spot in the Colonial Division. The Nighthawks used a 9-4 last-quarter advantage to cut the deficit, but the Panthers held on for the 37-34 win.
Pomperaug has one more game on the road, at Bethel on Wednesday, Feb. 17, before they open up play in the quarterfinals of the SWC tournament at home Friday, Feb. 19, for a 7 p.m. match-up against a to-be-determined opponent.
The SWC semifinals will be held at Masuk High School Monday, Feb. 22, at 5 and 7 p.m. with the championship game to be played next Wednesday, Feb. 24, at a site to be determined.
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