45°
The Boys Varsity team edged GFA in another epic game, 71-69, while the girl’s team showed their dominance by beating GA, 82-55, to add the tournament championship to the regular-season title.
You could barely move inside St. Luke’s Carey Gymnasium, and the sometimes deafening crowd were treated to some breathtaking basketball.
The boys took to the court first against a team they had beaten twice in the regular season but only by a combined three points as both games went down to the wire.
Saturday’s contest proved to be no different as the Storm would trade blows with the Dragons yet again in another enthralling encounter.
The home side would take control with just a couple of minutes to go when back-to-back threes from Jonas Harper and John Wisdom, followed by a steal from Joel Boyce to set up a dunk from Walter Whyte gave them an unassailable lead.
“So much credit goes to these kids. They did an amazing job as there were ups and downs but, as usual, they never flinched. I am so proud of them all,” head coach Drew Gladstone said of the team’s second straight FAA tournament championship.
The crowd barely had time for their heart rates to recover before the St. Luke’s girls set about their task to repeat last year’s title-winning performance.
In an intense first half against the No. 2 seed GA some sharp shooting from senior guard Sydney Lowery would see the Storm lead 43-33 at the interval.
The Gators would cut that lead immediately after the break to seven but an incredible second-half display would see Luke’s pull away for what was eventually a comfortable win.
Lowery finished with a game-high 30 points, McKenna Frank and Caroline Lau both added 13, Maya Klein had 10 and Jannelle Johnson scored 8.
“We can be so efficient on offense and we have so many players who can score we can get ourselves out of trouble if teams make runs like GA did," head coach Matt Ward said after the game. "Maya hit a couple of big shots, Sydney scored 30 and we just never lost our composure.”
The two teams now head into the New England tournament as the No. 1 seeds and will host the quarterfinal games on Wednesday.
Click here to follow Daily Voice New Canaan and receive free news updates.
