Over the winter break, the girls basketball team was able to begin and hold on to a couple of necessary wins to boost their motivation as they progress through the season; however, a loss on Tuesday, Jan. 3 was a reminder to the girls to keep working harder and fight towards their goal of being Shoreline/State Champions again.
Their first home game on Friday, Dec. 23 came to be very successful for the girls as they dominated Hale Ray by a score of 67-27. The girls put up a strong defense that limited Hale Ray’s scoring chances and used turnovers to help project them to a high-scoring win. Junior co-captain Ashleigh Halligan led the way for the team with 22 points. On Thursday, Dec. 29, the girls hosted their second home game against Creed. The girls put up a very strong defensive front once again, putting up many impressive blocks, and holding Creed to many unlikely shots that more often than not did not go in. The girls demolished Creed by a score of 62-14; Ashleigh Halligan again led the way with 19 points (more points than the other team’s total).
Shortly after the break, the girls traveled to Westbrook on Tuesday, Jan. 3 to take on the 3-1 Knights. Though they put up an early lead, they unfortunately lost it and sent the game into overtime. The girls once again jumped ahead of Westbrook, only to lose the game due to turnovers near the end of overtime, resulting in a 51-58 loss. This game served as a wake-up call to the girls to improve on their weak spots. “We’re not nervous at all because there’s still a lot more basketball to be played, and we’re a young team still developing a strong relationship on the court,” Halligan claimed.
Following their tough loss, the girls knew that they could not drop another game this early in the season. On Friday, Jan. 6, the girls started off with and held on to a commanding lead against North Branford and were able to limit them to a small shooting percentage. The girls came out on top 45-35 against the Thunderbirds to move to a solid 4-2 record on the season. And for the third time in six games, Ashleigh Halligan led the team with a total of 19 points.
On Tuesday, Jan. 10, the girls traveled to face Old Saybrook. The girls had a strong start and managed to hold off the Rams as they won 47-36 to move to a tie for third place in the Shoreline with Westbrook. Jessi King put up a team high 18 points, while Ashleigh Halligan had 20 assists.
The Lady Blue Devils seem to be finding their groove at this point in the season and prepare for a challenging week ahead of them as they take on Cromwell in a very big away game. The Panthers have not lost to a Shoreline team in almost 700 days, but the Devils hope their momentum will carry over from the previous games and give Cromwell their first loss in the conference in the last two years.