Berlin Girls March Into Quarters

If the Berlin Redcoats girls' basketball team is going to upset top-seeded Bacon Academy Monday in Colchester, the seniors are going to have to play with a whole lot more urgency than they played with in the Redcoats’ 41-32 victory over visiting Hand of Madison.

While Jess Szczepanik played her usual all-out game and had eight points and 11 rebounds, she shot just 4-for-11 from the floor, most of the misses coming on rebound putbacks or layups.

Monique St. Jarre was immense inside with 18 rebounds but to have just six points on seven offensive rebounds simply won’t get it done against a big Bacon front line.

Alyssa Barrett has been a three-point specialist all year but mustered just two points and had more turnovers than points. Steph Lapierre scored just two points despite extended playing time.

The seniors have shown the way all season and will need to do so again Monday night.

Bacon will come into the game unbeaten at 24-0. The Bobcats feature high-scoring Katie Maloney.

“We have some history with Bacon and we’re glad to be playing them,” said Berlin coach Sheila King, whose team lost in the finals to Bacon two years ago. “We took it one game at a time but I would be lying if we didn’t say that we were looking a little bit down the road to Bacon. We hoped to go there and now we will.”

Berlin was sluggish from the start on offense, leading 11-8 after one period.

A three-pointer by Courtney Trzasko with 3:00 to go in the second quarter gave Berlin an 18-12 lead and he Redcoats led 20-14 at the half.

A solid third quarter defensively gave Berlin a 32-18 lead going into the final quarter.

“We talked at halftime about Hand making a run,” King said. “When they went to a smaller line-up we knew they were going to press us and we hoped not lose our composure.”

But the Redcoats did lose their composure.

Hand forced the Redcoats into four straight turnovers, which led to a 9-0 run and a Berlin timeout. With 4:18 left, Hand had closed to within 32-27.

“We called timeout and told them to put on the brakes,” King said. “We needed to be stronger with the ball and keep the possession. The score was on our side but we needed to play smarter and stronger.”

St. Jarre made a lay-up out of a designed play from the timeout to stop the run and Berlin regained control.

Chelsea Vujs, a Berlin junior, was the best player on the court all night. She hit two free throws and a lay-up to help the Redcoats keep control over the final two minutes.

King was not happy with the way her team played but was happy to keep playing.

“We’ll have to live with it right now, what else are we going to do,” King said. “A win is a win. I’m happy with the win but I know we’re going to have to play better against Bacon. I’m disappointed we didn’t make more shots after dominating the glass inside but we’re still playing.”

Vujs led Berlin with 12 points while Szczepanik added eight points. The Berlin defense kept any Hand player from reaching double figures.

The Redcoats have had success on the road and will hope to draw from that against Bacon. Berlin beat E.O. Smith in Storrs to give them their only regular season loss.

“Bacon is a very solid,” King said. “We had a feeling we’d see them at some point. They are very efficient and have good size. They don’t go very many possessions without scoring. They have a great player in (Katie) Maloney. They have very few empty trips. We wish we were going to a neutral site instead of their home gym but we’ll play them wherever they tell us to.”

Game time is 7 p.m.