ECC Girls' Basketball Tournament: Top seeds Plainfield, Waterford advance

Norwich - Waterford High School went 6-for-8 from the free throw line in the final 1 minute, 24 seconds to clinch a 50-45 victory over Ledyard in the quarterfinals of the Eastern Connecticut Conference girls' basketball tournament at Norwich Free Academy.

No. 2 Waterford (18-3) will take on No. 6 East Lyme (15-6) in the semifinals at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Plainfield High School. No. 1 Plainfield (17-4) will meet No. 5 NFA (14-7) in the other semifinal beginning at 7:30 p.m.

Waterford's Kelley Dugan (14 points) made the Lancers' final field goal with 2:24 to go, giving them a 44-33 lead. Ledyard then got a layup from Kylie Fustini and a 3-pointer from Bianca Matira and a three-point play not long after from Arianna Fustini to pull within 46-41.

Christine Hadfield led Waterford with 15 points and Adily Martucci had 11.

Kylie Fustini had 18 points for Ledyard (14-8), Michelle Klinikowski seven rebounds, Olivia DelGrosso six rebounds and Arianna Fustini six assists.

In other games:

• No. 8 St. Bernard was ousted by Plainfield, but not without a fight as the Panthers won 47-44. St. Bernard led 23-16 at halftime, but was outscored 17-4 in the third quarter as Plainfield took a 33-27 lead.

"I'm not happy with how we played in the third quarter,'' St. Bernard coach Mike Nystrom said. "But we did not fold and played great in the fourth quarter.''

Kayla Paris had 18 points, six rebounds and three assists, Brittney Walenta had 11 points (three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter) and Casey Sullivan had 12 rebounds for St. Bernard (15-7). Heather Evans scored 18 and Hailey Griffin had 11 points for Plainfield.

• NFA outscored No. 4 Montville 30-12 in the second half and beat the Indians 43-21.

Alyssa Velles had 19 points for NFA, including three 3-pointers, followed by Olivia Marks and Kayla Donovan with 10 points each. NFA led just 13-9 at halftime.

Montville, playing without leading scorer Jamie Hill, got a game-high nine points from Kim Bigelow. The Indians are 16-5.