2014 Class LL Girls Basketball Championship

The sting of 2013's final-second defeat in the Class LL championship game was destined to not be felt again by the Lauralton Hall girls basketball team.

The Crusaders got off to a slow start in Saturday's matchup with fourth-seeded South Windsor, but rebounded from an early six-point deficit to assume a three point lead at halftime. The second half was all Lauralton, as domination of the glass at both ends of the floor led to a 68-53 victory at the Mohegan Sun Arena.

Top scorer Carly Fabbri was held in check by the Bobcats throughout most of the contest, shooting just 4 of 18 from the floor. However, Emma McCarthy stepped in to fill the breach, scoring a game-high 26 points and hauling in 17 rebounds, including nine on the offensive boards.

"We want our defense to produce offense, and in the second half we made it happen," Crusader head coach Amanda Forcucci said. "We made some defensive switches and moved Emma to a spot where she could help a little more inside."

South Windsor coach Don Leclerc said his team's game plan was to neutralize Fabbri.

"We were determined that Carly was not going to beat us," he said. "It was going to have to be someone else stepping up, and McCarthy did with a lot of offensive putbacks."

The Bobcats opened as if they were planning to hand the Crusaders their second straight state title game loss, opening up an 8-2 lead in the first four minutes, with Molly Murphy accounting for six of those points. Lauralton trailed until a three-pointer by Emily Menendez tied the game with 2:41 remaining in the first half, and another trey by Maggie Salandra propelled the Crusaders into a 26-23 lead at intermission.

Lauralton, the number two seed, continued the momentum after the break, with McCarthy scoring the first five points of the second half. TheCrusaders stretched their advantage to 11 near the end of the third quarter, and entered the final period with a 44-35 lead.

Free throw shooting made the biggest difference in the eventual outcome. South Windsor was whistled for 27 fouls, more than twice Lauralton's 13. As a result, the Crusaders converted 29 of 41 free throws, including 24 of 31 in the second half.

"Our team played with the same intensity level in the second half as we did in the first," Leclerc said. "Unfortunately, we were on the wrong end of some calls and to their credit, they made their free throws."

Lauralton, meanwhile, finally got to lay claim to that state championship which eluded them last year on a buzzer-beater by Mercy.

"I think we had some early jitters from playing at Mohegan Sun, but we regrouped at halftime and were able to put them in," Forcucci said. "The food in the locker room is going to taste so much better this year."

SOUTH WINDSOR 53

LAURALTON 68

Score by Periods	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Total
SOUTH WINDSOR	14	9	12	18	53	Record: (23-4)
LAURALTON	11	15	18	24	68	Record: (26-1)

Points in the paint-SWIN 26,LAUR 30. Points off turnovers-SWIN 16,LAUR 13.

2nd chance points-SWIN 4,LAUR 18. Fast break points-SWIN 4,LAUR 12.

Bench points-SWIN 6,LAUR 0. Score tied-2 times. Lead changed-1 time.

Last FG-SWIN 4th-00:47, LAUR 4th-02:44.

Largest lead-SWIN by 6 1st-03:50, LAUR by 15 4th-00:09.

Officials:
Technical fouls: SOUTH WINDSOR-None. LAURALTON-None.
Attendance:
CIAC Girls Class LL State Championship

HOME TEAM: LAURALTON

Time

Score

Margin

VISITORS: SOUTH WINDSOR

07:57

TURNOVR by GOSLIN, Alexandra

MISSED LAYUP by SALANDRA, Maggie

07:53

REBOUND (DEF) by BOLDEN, Olivia