Bacon pulls off rare sweep of NFA girls

Norwich — Bill Scarlata wore a puzzled look virtually all of Tuesday night, even after the game ended. That's when the following question was posed to the man who has authored seven state championships in girls' basketball at Norwich Free Academy:

"When's the last time someone beat you twice in the same season?"

Scarlata didn't know. He's not even sure it's ever happened.

And so perhaps Bacon Academy, in addition to moving past NFA in the Eastern Connecticut Conference Large Division standings, made a little history, too.

The Bobcats held NFA without a field goal until early in the second period and earned a relatively painless 42-32 victory, sweeping the season series.

Bacon coach Dave Shea, whose team won the 2009 Class M championship, wasn't about to equate a state title with a sweep of NFA, but was still quite proud of the accomplishment.

"It ranks pretty high," he said. "NFA has been the best team in the conference. Even though they're down a little bit this year, it's still a big game."

Bacon (12-2) is 5-1 in the division, tied with East Lyme for the lead. NFA (8-6) is 4-2, a game back.

"We beat them on our homecourt earlier in the season," Bacon junior Taylor McLaughlin said, "but beating them here might be a little better. We knew after we got the (early) lead, they'd come back with something good."

Bacon led 13-1, 19-3 and 22-5, helped by NFA's 0-for-12 shooting to begin the game. The Bobcats led by 26-11 at halftime and 32-19 after the third period.

NFA cut the lead to 32-25 on Olivia Marks' jumper with 6:23 remaining, but got no closer.

"They're a tough matchup for us because they're very skilled and well coached," Scarlata said. "They're bigger and bulkier than we are and it's hard for us to get rebounds."

McLaughlin led the Bobcats with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Michaela Siver had a career-high 12 points, including four straight in the fourth period after NFA cut into the lead. Siver also had eight rebounds. Sarah Rogers had seven points, nine rebounds and four assists.

Kayla Donovan had 10 points to lead NFA, which hadn't played in more than a week, but plays Waterford tonight.

m.dimauro@theday.com