Crusaders defeat Lady Trojans

Going into the first round of the SWC tournament at second-seeded Lauralton Hall on Saturday, the seventh-seeded Weston girls basketball team had a different game plan than before: Slow the pace down.

Unfortunately for Weston, the Crusaders used the same formula -- pressure the ball, create steals and turnovers -- that worked the first time they beat Weston on Feb. 9 to take the game in comfortable fashion, 61-34.

Lauralton Hall, ranked No. 6 in the most recent Connecticut Sports Writers' Alliance poll, recorded 13 of its 16 steals in the first half. Eight of those came in the first quarter, allowing the Lady Trojans (13-8) just four shot attempts within that time frame. It was similar to the plot that unfurled during Lauralton Hall's 67-33 victory at Weston.

"We're nothing if not consistent," Weston Coach Pat Cole said jokingly about his team's tendency to turn the ball over in the first half.

"Our passes we're definitely weaker. That killed us, I think," senior captain forward Brittany Swanson said.

Still, Cole's team made progress against the Crusaders (20-1), a team that made it all the way to the Class LL semifinals last season.

Swanson had a game-high 17 points, mentioned that her team was down 27-5 going into the second quarter of the Feb. 9 contest. On Saturday, Lauralton Hall had a 15-5 lead at the same point.

"The way we're looking at it we're only down by 10 against a very good team," Cole said. "They have height, strength and talent and they know how to use it."

They have depth too. Crusaders Coach Don Cornelio sent 15 girls out on the floor, 10 of whom scored at least two points. Lauralton Hall was lead by the 12 points of senior guard Keylantra Langley, a nationally recruited point guard who has signed with St. John's University (N.Y.). Fellow senior forward Devon Leahy had 11 points, while anchoring her squad's defensive efforts with seven steals -- all of which happened in the first half. Junior Nicola Matero added 10 points.

Lauralton Hall started the game on a 13-0 run before sophomore center Ellie Martin grabbed a rebound off a miss by freshman guard Taylor Swanson and record a put-back with 1:35 to play in the first quarter.

Martin finished with nine points and six rebounds, followed by the five points by junior guard Christina Welsh and the three points from junior guard Hannah Hutchins.

To Weston's credit, the team was able to find more success moving the ball around in its offensive sets in the second half while only committing four turnovers.

"When you can do things against Lauralton Hall, you like your chances better against some teams that we're better matched against," Cole said.

After making its first appearance in the SWC tournament since 1996, Weston had a little more than a week to prepare for its first opponent, which most likely will be conference foe New Fairfield, in the Class M state tournament at the beginning of March. The official brackets are set to be released today at casciac.org.

The rest came in handy for a team with two injured players (senior Jessica Welsh and junior Dakota Sloop) that had just finished a string of games against some of the top powers in the state.

All of that doesn't matter now. March represents a new chapter.

"It's a new season," Swanson said. "We need to have fresh legs. It's 0-0."