Conard High School’s girls basketball team won the Sportsmanship Award for the 2015-16 season.

From left: Conard seniors Jessica Lohneiss and Olivia Gaglioti, Head Coach Colleen Duggan, Basketball official Tony Lopes , and seniors Sarah Hoisl and Nicole Kradas. Submitted photo

By Ronni Newton

Conard High School head girls basketball coach Colleen Duggan and her 2015-16 team are the recipients of the Central Connecticut Board 6 Basketball Officials Sportsmanship Award for this season, West Hartford Athletic Director Betty Remigino-Knapp announced this week.

“I know we don’t often celebrate our athletes when they win something as much as we celebrate an amazing academic award, but I think this is a great opportunity to celebrate my kids. This award speaks volumes about who they are as people, about their character and about how they handle adversity,” Duggan said in an email.

Duggan said that Conard was chosen by a vote of the the board’s 270 referrees. “These are the people who know, more than anyone else, how our student athletes conduct themselves in the heat of the battle,” she said. Eight of the games that Conard won were very close, and many were come-from-behind wins that were not decided until the very end.

“When some teams would give up or let the pressure get to them, our kids fought hard, fought together and fought with excellent sportsmanship,” Duggan said.

Duggan is proud of the way the team represented Conard. “Personally, this award is what I am most proud of from this past season … and we had a lot to be proud of,” she said.

With a record of 17-3, the Conard girls had the best season in decades, winning a share of the CCC regular season title – the first time in 30 years that the team has won a league championship. The team won its first round game in the state LL tournament, but lost to Glastonbury in the second round.

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