Lancers face Vikings in ECC girls' semis tonight

Second-seeded Waterford was in the midst of a five-point victory against No. 7 Ledyard on Saturday when the Ledyard fans began the "overrated" chant directed at their opponents.

Waterford coach Rob Von Achen took a glance over his shoulder into the bleachers at Norwich Free Academy, where the Eastern Connecticut Conference girls' basketball quarterfinals were being held.

Von Achen's reaction to those fans following the 50-45 victory that earned his team a berth in today's semifinal round? Are you serious?

"If we don't win another game, I'd be proud of them and they know it," Von Achen said of the Lancers, who are 18-3 overall with a 15-game winning streak. "We're not supposed to be here.

"Hearing people yell at us, 'overrated,' that's not us. It's a phenomenal compliment and they don't realize that. Let 'em keep yelling."

The Lancers get a crack at their 16th win in a row in tonight's ECC tournament semifinals at Plainfield High School. Waterford takes on No. 6 East Lyme (15-6) at 6 p.m., followed by a game between No. 1 Plainfield (17-4) and No. 5 NFA (14-7) at 7:30.

Bacon Academy won the ECC Large Division this season, Waterford the Medium Division and Plainfield the Small Division. But there's been a fair amount of excitement, too, with many of the teams knocking each other off.

Waterford lost to East Lyme 60-50 on Dec. 27 and beat the Vikings 60-49 on Feb. 10. Waterford also split with Plainfield, losing 64-44 (Dec. 13) and winning 61-55 (Jan. 18).

East Lyme lost to Bacon 59-50 in the teams' last matchup of the regular season (Jan. 31), helping lift Bacon to the Large Division crown, but defeated the Bobcats at the buzzer in Saturday's ECC quarterfinals.

"Waterford and Plainfield could be the two most complete teams in terms of having everything," NFA coach Bill Scarlata said of the top two seeds. "Waterford can kill you inside and they have two pretty good ballhandlers. Plainfield, they rebound the ball extremely well.

"... I thought the league was balanced this year. Ledyard was a good team. We're not a bad team. The teams in the second tier really weren't that bad. We're learning to play a little bit."

East Lyme's win over Bacon on Saturday eliminated the tournament's defending champion. With the game tied and 8.7 seconds remaining, Allison Stoddard dribbled from end to end before banking in a shot at the buzzer for a 45-43 win.

Stoddard had 16 points, using her quickness to get to the basket, while Jenna Schumacher scored 14 points from the outside.

"Jenna made those and it made them pressure us more on the ball," Stoddard said. "When we started driving to the basket, we knew we could get by them. We felt like we could beat them off the dribble."

"They can kill you outside or kill you on the fast break," Waterford's Von Achen said of his team's matchup for today.

Waterford, though, is also athletic, with senior guards Adily Martucci and Alyssa Hancock leading the way, and has gotten solid contributions inside all season from senior center Christine Hadfield.

Plainfield topped NFA 53-45 on Jan. 13, getting 17 points from Hailey Griffin and 12 from Haley Beausoleil. Alyssa Velles scored 20 for NFA in what was the team's first of three straight losses, falling thereafter to Bacon and Waterford. NFA hasn't loss since.

"It was a very strange game," Scarlata said. "They we went up 7-0, but they just hit everything in sight. Our problem is we have more trouble scoring than the other teams do. They have three or four kids that can light it up every night.

"... We play pretty good defense, though. Or at least I think we do. And sometimes you just get lucky."

v.fulkerson@theday.com