NFA girls get even with Bacon and tie for ECC Large lead
Colchester — Hailey Conley started getting the hang of splashing 3-pointers as a fifth-grader and works diligently at that art.
Conley's secret: do not think.
"Every night, I go to the gym with my dad and we shoot," Conley said after she and Norwich Free Academy beat Bacon Academy on Friday night, 57-39, to avenge an earlier Eastern Connecticut Conference Large Division loss.
"If I don't think about it, I tend to make them more. If I'm missing and I'm thinking about how I'm missing it, then I tend to miss."
Conley was in rhythm against the Bobcats as she made six 3-pointers for a game-high 25 points for the Wildcats, ranked eighth in the New Haven Register Top 10 state poll.
"She had six tonight?" NFA head coach Bill Scarlata asked. "If she's out there (on the perimeter), then that lets Cebria (Outlow) have a little more room inside. And Mackenzie (Burke) is good enough to stretch it on the other side, too. I like them to have really good offensive nights so then Cebria can go crazy inside."
Burke scored 17 and Outlow 11 for the Wildcats (14-3, 8-1), who tied Bacon for first in the ECC Large. The Bobcats (16-2, 8-1) beat NFA on Jan. 19, 48-34. Both finish divisional play with home games on Wednesday, NFA against East Lyme and Bacon against Fitch.
"We played really well this game," Conley said. "The last game, I was sick, Cebria was out, and I think that kind of messed with us a little bit. We just couldn’t find opportunities to score. We were definitely in a funk, and nobody could score. Our defense was off, too.
"I think losing to them, we came out really hungry for the win. The first quarter was really strong, one of the best that we've played all year, so that really got us started."
Jocelyn Luizzi scored 10 for Bacon. Her 3-pointer cut NFA's lead to 35-30 with over four minutes left in the third quarter.
The Wildcats responded by closing the quarter with a 13-0 run. Burke and Conley each made a 3-pointer during that run.
"When we are patient, we end up getting really good shots," Scarlata said, "and when we're not patient, we either turn the ball over (NFA had 15 turnovers) or take some crazy shot against somebody who is 15 inches taller than us and that's a turnover. Those are the things that we've got to work on, if we ever practice again."
Scarlata was referencing his team playing four times in five days this week, the last of those games being at defending Fairfield County Interscholastic Conference Champion Ridgefield (13-4) on Saturday.
"They're huge," Scarlata said. "They have a 6-3 kid (Rebecca Lawrence) who's a Division I player (she's committed to Delaware). They're aggressive."
n.griffen@theday.com
Twitter: @MetalNED
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