Manchester eliminates Staples from LL

The 10th-seeded Staples girls basketball capped its season last Friday with a 50-29 loss at seventh-seeded Manchester in the second round of the class LL state tournament. Manchester raised its record to 17-4 and upped it to 18-4 after beating second-seeded

St. Joseph on Wednesday, 52-38, to advance to the Class LL semifinals.

Staples Coach Ed Huydic said, "We got beat by a better, stronger team and in defeat I thought our team showed well. We had great energy throughout and tremendous effort throughout."

The Lady Wreckers finished their season at 15-8 and were able to keep the score close in the first half with help from junior Nicole Brill (five points, two assists, three steals, seven rebounds). Brill had four points in the first half. Senior captain Suvi Puritpatarrapan (one assist, two steals, one rebound) controlled the tempo of the game by running effective offensive sets and through her tenacious defense.

"In the first we disrupted their offensive sets, keeping the game low scoring," Huydic said. "And if it weren't for the the five missed free throws the score would have been really close."

With two minutes to go in the half, Puritpatarrapan suffered an ankle injury while penetrating in the lane for a layup. She was unable to return to the game and this hurt Staples immensely.

"Without Suvi they outscored us 32-19," Huydic said. "Without her, the team loses 13 points and four rebounds. We were even more undermanned than we had been all season. The coaching staff was pleased with the energy and effort and thought we were able to implement our game plan in the first half successfully. However life without Suvi was just more than we could bare in this game. It was ironic that in a season with all the injuries we had that our captain would go down in the final game of the season."

In addition, four players were honored by the league. Puritpatarrapan made First Team All-FCIAC. She said, "It feels great knowing that all the hard work and everything I accomplished paid off. My main focus this year was too play hard defense and help the team score as much as I could."

Brill was Third Team All-FCIAC. She said, "I was really surprised to be honored with an FCIAC award but I know that I've put a lot of time and effort into helping the team by rebounding, playing hard defense, and even getting a few points on offense."

Also sophomores Jess Coelho and Remy Nolan were All-FCIAC Honorable Mention. Brill said, "I think Remy had a great season this year. She really stepped up as a sophomore to help the team make it to states and FCIACS even with all the injuries."

Overall, Staples had a great year despite dealing with more injuries than the norm. Huydic said, "The season as a whole was bitter-sweet. There was success in maintaining the streak in the state tournament [26 in a row], sweetness in the way we managed the last third on the season to qualify for FCIACs by winning some tough games with close scores. And there was sweetness in advancing in the tournament with a lineup that was far from what we had anticipated. The bitter part was we never once were able to feel the team that the coaching staff envisioned in November."

Despite the disappointments, Huydic is pleased with the team's success and the players' ability to adapt. "The girls to their credit recognized the need to often times play different positions and the need to take on more minutes as the season wore on. There is quite a bit of good feelings to having experienced success in those kinds of situations and to see the growth of a team that was depleted really."