Mahoney's Irish eyes were smilin' Friday night

Norwich - All that stood between Bacon Academy and program history Friday night was a ticking clock. Only the greatest feeling in sports, if only for a flash, when you know winning is imminent. And when the clock read 0:00 and the Bobcats had their first conference tournament championship in girls' basketball, something more momentous happened.

Katie Mahoney smiled.

This is news. Especially if you've ever seen her play. Mahoney, the whiz kid from the first family of sports in Colchester, would be great in a deodorant commercial. Never let them see you sweat? Katie Mahoney never lets anybody see her breathing hard, let alone perspire. Up 10, down 10, up a point down a point, first quarter or time growing desperate. She always looks the same. The most important play is the next play. It would make coaches weep with joy. Because if you watch her long enough, you figure out that in seeing nothing, you see everything.

"No idea," her coach (and grandfather) Dave Shea said Friday night, responding to a question about the origin of Mahoney's stoicism. "She certainly doesn't get it from me. Or her uncle (John, also Bacon's associate head coach). Or her mother. And her father was captain of the baseball team at Holy Cross. Very competitive."

Mahoney scored 25 points in the championship game of the Eastern Connecticut Conference Tournament, named the outstanding player. She was plenty happy after the game, adding the ECC Tournament to a resume that had already included three regular season divisional championships and the 2009 Class M state title.

She smiled again after the game, wondering if she's really as stoic as people say.

"Some people think I have an attitude," she said. "But it's really that I try not to get worked up about things."

Mahoney's story could be fodder for a mini series about high school sports in a small town. Think about it: Grandfather is the coach, uncle is a coach and she takes most of the shots. Now there's a scenario that would make many coaches grab a bullet proof vest and a fifth of Johnnie Walker to get through most days.

Instead, Mahoney is the centerpiece of all that's right.

Mahoney gets the ball because she's the best player. Her teammates know it. Mahoney takes the most shots. But manages to play unselfishly.

"She knows what she's doing," teammate Kelly Dixon said. "We trust her. We don't just give it to her. She works hard to get open. People might think there's jealousy. But she works just as hard as everyone else."

Bacon's approach is reminiscent of the way Stonington played in the days of Heather Buck. Stonington's offense was brilliant in its simplicity. Paulla Solar, Buck's high school coach, made sure Buck touched the ball on every possession. Not most. Every. Even Geno Auriemma noticed in his days recruiting Buck. Auriemma said, essentially, that it's not easy, with egos (and parental sniveling) expanding like automobile air bags, to run such a consistent offensive approach. Solar did it without apology and won an ECC Tournament and a state title. So has Shea.

"It comes with the territory of being a coach," Shea said, alluding to any criticism. "But Katie has been starting since she was a freshman. She's our playmaker."

And her teammates play off her. While opposing defenses run at her, other Bacon players are more wide open than eastern Wyoming. It was 33-24 Bacon in the third period Friday night when Mahoney passed out of a double team to Carlee Putnam, who made a 3-pointer and pushed the lead to 12.

Mahoney and the Bobcats await the state tournament in highly competitive Class L. After that, it's graduation and college at Brown, Fairfield or Providence. Not a bad list. She'll leave as the program's greatest player, the centerpiece of a golden era. She'll also leave as the personification of how you're supposed to act with all eyes on you. The best way to act on the floor? Look at whatever Katie Mahoney happens to be doing at the time.

This is the opinion of Mike DiMauro.