Perfect ending for Wamogo girls basketball in ’94-95

By KEVIN ROBERTS
There were four area high school basketball teams that won state championships in 1995, but only one of them went undefeated.
That would be the Wamogo girls, who went 27-0. Led by head coach Ken Gladding, the top-seeded Warriors defeated second-seeded St. Thomas Aquinas-New Britain, 49-47, on March 11 at CCSU’s Detrick Gymnasium to capture what is still the only state championship in program history.
“I knew our team was going to be good, but I never even thought about being good enough to win states,” said Michaela Breakell, who was a senior on that team.
Breakell added, “We were friends off the court, but then teammates and friends on the court. And I think that combo made everything work better. It made things easier for us when things got tough during practices and games.”
Breakell said that senior Tracy Stolle carried Wamogo throughout the season.
Stolle, a two-time All-State honoree, scored a school-record 1,924 points in her career. She averaged 26.4 points, four steals and 3.7 assists that season, and was recently named to the CIAC girls basketball all-century team.
Stolle said that her class had heard throughout their school years that they were a special group. Wamogo had grades 7-12 on its campus.
“In general, we were a good group of athletes,” Stolle said. “We were coming off a successful field hockey season.”
Breakell and Stolle were joined by fellow senior Jackie Herkimer (now Fenn).
Sophomore Lisa Masi and freshman Katie Matthews, the younger sister of Thomaston star Amy Matthews, were also key contributors. Junior Lynne Harmon and sophomore Brooke Wadhams also played.
“We always were athletic and wanted to win,” Stolle said. “We enjoyed playing with each other.”
Breakell said Herkimer and Masi, both forwards, did the hard work under the basket.
“They rebounded, made countless layups, kicked the ball out our shooters, and blocked more shots than I could keep track of,” Breakell said.
Matthews proved to be a lethal outside shooter that burned opposing defenses who focused too hard on stopping Stolle, Breakell said. Matthews could also find the forwards inside for easier looks.
“Katie Matthews (now Nordland) was a freshman, but she played like a veteran,” Breakell said.
As for Breakell, she was the point guard on offense and played the role of defensive stopper, and it was a role that suited her just fine.
“Sometimes I would do a full-court press, on all on my own, just to try to mess up the other team’s point guard,” Breakell said. “I was annoying, I’m sure, but I disrupted the other’s team offense so much that they would turn the ball over and our team would score off fast breaks. I loved my role on the team.”
Proof that the Wamogo girls were more than just a good team came during the regular season. Many of the Warriors were nervous when Bristol Central, a Class L school that went 15-5 in the regular season season, came to Litchfield for a nonleague game. Stolle, who had honed her skills in AAU ball, wasn’t worried about the bigger school and conveyed that attitude to her teammates. Wamogo won the game.
“At that time (and probably still), the rest of the state referred to the Berkshire League as the ‘JV’ league,” Stolle said. “I heard that when I played AAU, and it really irritated me.”
That fire to prove others wrong drove Wamogo as it continued to beat bigger schools, and its opponents in the BL as well.
The Warriors finished the regular season 20-0, then claimed three more victories on the way to the league tournament title.
Wamogo was struck with some bad luck early in the Class S state tournament.
“In the games leading up to the championship, I was sick with tonsillitis and I remember that the team had to pull together to make it through the preliminary rounds,” Stolle said. “I played, but I was not 100%. I think this was something that unified us more as we went through the process. We all had a ‘refuse to lose’ attitude and understood our roles.”
Wamogo defeated Old Lyme (63-53), Cromwell (46-32) and Weston (52-46) to reach the state final against St. Thomas Aquinas. The final felt like ‘Hoosiers’ to the Warriors.
“We were the little country town coming into the big gym to play in front of all those people,” Stolle said. “The Wamogo crowd was huge. We got great support from the three towns.”
St. Thomas Aquinas took control early and led at halftime, but Wamogo turned up the defensive pressure in the second half and stormed back into the game.
The Warriors held a tenuous 49-47 lead in the final seconds, and St. Thomas Aquinas had the ball with a chance to tie or win the game.
“The ball went up, we held our breath, and their shot totally missed the basket, and then it came down,” Breakell said. “Game over, we won.”
Stolle had 33 points, including 15 in a 21-6 third quarter that saw Wamogo turn an eight-point halftime deficit into a 40-33 lead.
“Later, after college, I taught in the same school as (St. Thomas Aquinas coach) Jack Zenobi and he said he would never forget me, and the fact that he couldn’t find a girl that could stop me,” Stolle said. “We had a good laugh about it.”
In a season where they were doubted by most people, the Warriors met every challenge, defeated all comers, and had the last laugh.