[This post contains video, click to play]
BY RICK WILSON
REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
LITCHFIELD — It is a stunning run fueled by an insatiable desire for championships and a relentless ability to satisfy that desire.
There were some different faces in the Thomaston High girls basketball team’s lineup this year, but the results stayed the same — more Berkshire League titles.
The Bears remained golden Wednesday night, turning back a plucky Housatonic team to rack up their sixth straight BL tournament title, 51-36, at Wamogo.
Titles are not new to Thomaston, its seniors ending their BL careers a perfect 8-for-8 with four league titles to go with the tournament crowns. But you could tell by the hugs at halfcourt and a proud trimming of the nets that the Bears appreciate all of it.
“This means so much,” said senior guard Julia Quinn. “It’s amazing what this team has accomplished, and we’re not done yet. Nothing is guaranteed. We just had to play Thomaston basketball, and that is what we did.”
“The standard has been set pretty high here, and these kids are upholding the standard,” said Bears coach Bob McMahon.
Casey Carangelo spoke for the Bears’ mindset these days and years.
“We had two options tonight: to win or to win,” said the All-State center.
Housatonic (20-3) poked the Bears (19-4) and poked them hard this year, splitting a pair of games with McMahon’s crew, earning a share of the BL title in the process. Thomaston offered up a response in the rubber match.
The Bears cleaned up their effort on the boards after getting torched in that department in the last meeting between the two teams, tightened up the defense, and then there were Quinn and Carangelo.
Despite foul trouble, Carangelo accounted for 16 points. As for Quinn, well, can we say she was immense? Maybe superb is better. The deceptively quick guard with the hellacious jump shot fired in 18 points and tracked down 11 rebounds to go with a whole bunch of pinpoint passes underneath for easy baskets.
“Quinn is just phenomenal,” lauded Housatonic coach Steve Dodge. “Not taking anything away from Carangelo, she’s a great player, but we’ve held her below her average the last two games and have struggled to contain Quinn. She is a bigger threat to us. She goes to the hoop and has unbelievable range.”
Housatonic had chances in the first half but was done in by its second straight poor shooting game. The looks were there; the ball in the hoop wasn’t. The Mountaineers were 6-for-25 in the first half (14-for-50 for the game) and by then were looking at a 22-13 deficit.
“We’re hanging with Thomaston, and if we make some shots, it’s a tie game at half,” said Dodge. “A lot of them were easy bunnies, too. Our shots didn’t fall and we had some key offensive players struggle on the offensive end.”
Quinn was at her best in the third quarter. With memories of Housatonic erasing a 10-point deficit in the third period of the previous meeting, Quinn went to work. With the score 29-22, she drilled a 3-pointer from the side.
Oliva Forstmann (11 points, 10 rebounds) then responded with an old-fashioned three-point play. But before you could say “comeback,” Quinn fed Carangelo underneath for a short shot.
After Carangelo went to the bench with her third foul, Quinn proceeded to take over and dish to Cam Capaldo for a pair of layups and a 38-25 lead going into the fourth quarter.
“I just saw openings and passed or drove to the openings,” said Quinn. “My teammates were telling me to go. I just didn’t want to lose.”
Quinn scored Thomaston’s first five points of the fourth quarter as the lead hit 43-27 and never fell below 12 points the rest of the way.”
“Julia’s just a warrior. I’m glad we have her and nobody else does,” said McMahon.
The Bears also got a lift from Capaldo, who scored seven points, and some solid defense from Alexa Milius.
“We played seven people tonight and they were all impactful,” said McMahon.
Defense guides the Mountaineers, but Dodge knows the ball has to hit the bottom of the net with more regularity.
“You can only go so long on phenomenal defense,” he said.
As for the Bears, it was a another championship night in a decade of championship nights.