Alison Connors said her daughter Riley didn’t want to miss basketball season.
The baby, Connors’ second child, was due this past week but arrived Nov. 18 and was 13 days old when she attended her first Northwest Catholic girls basketball practice with her mother, who coaches the three-time state champions, on Dec. 1.
Northwest, which won the Class L title last year after winning Class MM the year before and Class S the year before that, will once again contend for a state title, this time in Division I. Girls basketball switched to the divisional system the boys use this season for the first time.
The high school girls basketball season opens Friday.
“I think it’s great,” Connors said. “We’re looking forward to the state tournament, we kind of guessed that’s where we’d be. We want to be competitive.”
Northwest returns its entire starting lineup, including seniors Abby Casper, who will play at Holy Cross next season; Maeve Staunton, who will play soccer at UConn; and Zoe Canning, who will play basketball at Swarthmore.
“We’re trying to pick up where we left off,” Connors said.
Northwest will start the season with a big game right away Tuesday against East Catholic, last year’s Class MM runner-up. East Catholic also moved up to Div. I.
East Catholic, the CCC tournament runner-up which finished 24-4 last year, returns the bulk of its starting lineup including senior center Urielle Afaokwa-Abrokwa and sophomores Gia Fisher and Morgan Bridgeforth.
“I think we’re a little bit ahead of where we were last year at this point,” East Catholic coach Chad Malone said. “Division I will be certainly a challenge but we have the horses to compete in it.”
Southington, the CCC tournament champion which lost in the Class LL championship…
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The Mountain View Lady Eagles pose after capturing the championship of the Lambert-Simons Tip-Off Classic held at Mountain View with a 53-44 win over Nanticoke Area. Left to right, front row: Haley Bills, Sophia Davis, Emily Trichilo, Aubrey Sanders, Addison Kilmer, Reagan Bishop-Russo, Dazlyn Sobol, Emma Thatcher, and Gianna Gravine. Second row: Head Coach Corey Gesford, Assistant Coaches – Bob Sedlak, Ashley Kilmer, and Errol Mannick. Photo courtesy Behind the Lenz 