Housatonic girls win BL basketball championship

BY STEVE BARLOW

WINSTED — The six seniors on the Housatonic High girls basketball team were around two years ago when the Mountaineers shared the Berkshire League championship with Thomaston.

But none of them had even been born the last time Housy won the title by itself. It was the pre-Twitter, pre-Instagram, pre-Hoop Zone era. Yes, it’s been that long.

But after his team had dominated Northwestern, 41-20, on Monday night to wrap up the school’s first outright BL crown since 1998, coach Steve Dodge said he thought this was possible when the season tipped off.

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“I have five, six tremendous athletes — no superstars, but they all wanted to play. They all loved the game,” Dodge explained.

None of the Mountaineers average double figures in scoring, but someone always seems to have the hot hand. On Tuesday at the Highlanders’ home, it was senior guard Christina Winburn (17 points) and freshman center Sydney Segalla (11) who provided the oomph on offense.

But it was the defense that won the game. Northwestern, the defending BL champion, shot 7-of-46 from the floor, a rim-rattling 15 percent. The Highlanders also turned the ball over 32 times while scoring a season-low.

“We were really focused on two players, Emma Propfe and (Natalie) Lederman,” explained Winburn. “They were the big threats and we had to shut them down. Defense was more our concern than offense.”

Lederman had a team-high nine points, but Propfe finished with just five, nearly 10 points below her average. Junior Skylar DiMartino, Northwestern’s other double-figure scorer, had only four points.

“We wanted to get them out of their style of play,” Dodge said. “It seemed to work. They never seemed to get in a rhythm.”

Housatonic (18-1 overall, 17-0 BL) sputtered on offense in the first quarter, too, leading 6-4. But Winburn scored six of her 17 points in the second period to pace Housy to a 21-10 halftime lead. Northwestern (17-2, 15-2 with both losses to Housy) was never able to threaten in the second half.

“They shot well. They defended well and, to be honest, it looked like they wanted it more than we did,” Northwestern coach Fred Williams said. “Once we dug ourselves the hole that we did, we couldn’t get out of it.

“It was just a situation where we weren’t ready and they were. They’re definitely the best team in the league, no question about it.”