Missed shots, turnovers doom Lady Wrecker cagers

Everything went wrong offensively for the Staples girls basketball team on Tuesday in its 38-26 home loss to Stamford. Staples committed 21 turnovers and shot 9-48 (19 percent) from the field in dropping to 11-5, 10-4 in the FCIAC. Stamford raised its record to 11-2, 11-2. The Lady Wreckers were also outrebounded, 40-28 as the Black Knights got three to four offensive rebounds in one sequence.

"Stamford played its best game of the season and out-rebounded us," Staples Coach Ed Huydic said. "We missed a lot of layups and that hurt us in our quest for momentum. We weren't 100 percent by any means. It was our first real clunker of the season. We got outplayed and their length beat our perimeter game."

What the Lady Wreckers lacked on offense, they more than compensated for it on defense. Senior captain Suvi Puripattarapan (eight points, seven rebounds, three assists, five steals) spearheaded the defense and created opportunities off her steals. Puripattarapan gave Staples its only lead, 2-0, when she converted a putback off the offensive glass.

Not having sophomore center Jessica Coelho, who is out with an MCL injury, also hurt Staples.

"Without Jess, we don't have an inside game and it makes it tougher for those on the perimeter," Puripattarapan said.

Senior captain Maddie Krakowiak, who is still recovering from an ACL injury, played her heart out in the paint. Krakowiak (five points, 11 rebounds, three assists, one steal) kept Staples in the game for the first three quarters and went after loose balls, which enabled her to force a turnover and tie up a Black Knight for a jump ball.

The play of Puripattarapan and Krakowiak helped keep the Lady Wreckers in the game with the latter setting up Puripattarapan and senior Chelsea Salamone (nine points, one rebound) for jump shots late in the second quarter to make it 15-13. Stamford led 17-13 at the break.

"I think our shots are a problem," Puripattarapan said. "We don't make the key points and it's hard to come back when you work your butt off on defense but you can't score. "We expected them to play a zone and not apply much pressure but instead they played a man-to-man defense."

Although the Lady Wreckers never regained the lead, they tied it four times, the last time at 19-19 with 5:15 remaining in the third quarter on junior Nicole Brill's (two points, three rebounds, one steal) set shot.

The Black Knights responded with a 5-0 run and led 26-20 after three quarters. Stamford broke it open in the fourth quarter and its lead peaked at 13, 35-22 with 3:32 left on senior captain Jasmine Jones' runner. Jones (14 points, 15 rebounds, three blocked shots) and senior captain Kim Mannarino (11 points, 12 rebounds) dominated the glass for the Black Knights and their putbacks helped put the game away.

Also contributing for Staples were juniors Jaclyn Katz (two points, two rebounds, one assist, one steal) and Julie Strickland, senior Caroline Accardi (on rebound) and sophomore Remy Nolan (two rebounds, one steal).