Northwest Catholic Girls Win State Basketball Championship, Second Year in a Row - We-Ha

West Hartford’s Northwest Catholic High School defeated Wallingford’s M.T. Sheehan High School on Saturday in the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference Class MM girls basketball championship at Mohegan Sun Arena.

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Northwest Catholic girls basketball wins the CIAC Class MM tournament on March 16, 2024 at Mohegan Sun Arena. Photo credit: James Drzewiecki

By Bob Carr

The bright lights, the big arena, every parent and school supporter cheering your team on tends to affect the first quarter of any high school championship basketball game. Saturday’s Northwest Catholic vs. Sheehan girls basketball match-up at Mohegan Sun Arena was no different.

When the final buzzer sounded, after dominant play in the second half, No. 2 seed NWC (16-4 in the regular season) defeated No. 5 seed Sheehan (15-5 in the regular season) 43-37, bringing home the trophy for the second year in a row.

There were a total of nine turnovers in the first quarter with neither team shooting better than 20% from the floor. When the quarter ended, Sheehan led 7-5.

Northwest Catholic girls basketball wins the CIAC Class MM tournament on March 16, 2024 at Mohegan Sun Arena. Photo credit: James Drzewiecki

The Titans got into their offensive flow in the second quarter. They cleaned up on the offensive glass and created scoring opportunities, taking advantage of Northwest Catholic turnovers and building an 18-12 lead with less than a minute to go in the first half. Then sophomore Maeve Staunton took over. She scored on a nice lay in at 51 seconds and brought the Lions back to within four.

The teams headed into the locker room with Sheehan up, 18-14.

Sophomore Maeve Staunton was named MVP. At right is NWC coach Alison Connors. Northwest Catholic girls basketball wins the CIAC Class MM tournament on March 16, 2024 at Mohegan Sun Arena. Photo credit: Bob Carr

The third quarter was all Staunton, who scored the first four points of the second half. Northwest Catholic scored 15 points in the third and Staunton had a hand in all 15 – scoring seven points along with three assists, finding her teammates open and ready to score.

If the third quarter belonged to Staunton the fourth was game-high scorer Abby Casper. With the score 39-37 and 29.9 seconds on the clock Casper, a sophomore, had the ball deep in the paint, surrounded by Sheehan players, and willed a.low-post bucket while being fouled. Casper hit her free throw for an old fashioned 3-point play which sealed the victory.

Abby Casper gets her medal. Northwest Catholic girls basketball wins the CIAC Class MM tournament on March 16, 2024 at Mohegan Sun Arena. Photo credit: Bob Carr

Casper ended the game with 19 points on 6-9 shooting. She was 3-4 on 3-pointers and made four of her six free-throws attempts. Staunton, named game MVP, had 16 points and five rebounds, along with her three assists. Senior captain Maeve Rushin – the daughter of former UConn star Rebecca Lobo – added six points and had seven rebounds and two blocks.

Liv Cassesse led Sheehan with 12 points, and Jenna Wresian had 10.

Saturday’s win was the fifth all-time girls basketball title for Northwest Catholic, and the second in a row. Last year’s win was in Class S, but the Lions moved up to Class MM this year.

Head coach Alison Connors, a West Hartford native and 2013 graduate of NWC, is in her fourth season as head coach. She took over the program in the COVID-shortened season of 2021. The Lions reached the post-season in 2022, but lost in the first round.