NFA trio scores all of its points in 51-46 win over Bacon Academy
Colchester — Several players saw time for Norwich Free Academy on Friday night.
Only three players scored for the Wildcats, yet they won, knocking off 10th-ranked Bacon Academy 51-46 in a girls' basketball game.
Go figure.
Seniors Hailey Conley and Mackenzie Burke and freshman Makayla Poirier-Vaughters accounted for all of NFA’s points.
“We’ve been doing that all year,” NFA head coach Bill Scarlata said. “That’s why we’ve struggled. I’m trying to get everyone else involved, but they don’t want to cooperate.”
Conley made four 3-pointers and scored 19 points with four steals for the Wildcats (9-4). Poirier-Vaughters scored 13 of her 19 points in the second half and had 13 rebounds while Burke did a bit of everything (13 points, eight rebounds, four assists).
“Me and Mackenzie, if our shots are going in, then we normally play really well (as a team),” Conley said. “Tonight they were falling in the first half, so that helped a lot.”
NFA started a 17-0 run late in the third quarter and carried it over to the fourth. Bacon went over six minutes without a basket as the Wildcats went ahead, 44-32, with four minutes, 24 seconds left in the game.
Poirier-Vaughters scored nine of the Wildcats’ 18 points in the third quarter. Conley scored seven and Burke two.
“It’s (scoring) better than it was when we started out (the season) because we only had two kids scoring (Burke and Conley),” Scarlata said. “So now we get three (scorers)."
Senior Jocelyn Luizzi had 13 points and 10 rebounds and sophomore Kellie Nudd scored 14 for the Bobcats (10-3), who had moved into the GameTimeCT/New Haven Register Top 10 this week.
It was NFA’s best win of the season given how only the state’s best had beaten Bacon. Its other losses were to top-ranked New London (39-34, Jan. 3) and No. 3 Enfield (54-53 in overtime, Dec. 30).
“Yeah, it’s probably the biggest (win),” Scarlata said. “We just have to get better. But we’ll take it.”
The Bobcats led by as much as 20-12 with over four minutes left in the first half as the Wildcats struggled on both ends of the floor.
Courtney Violette’s 3-pointer gave Bacon a 32-27 lead with 2:48 seconds left in the third quarter.
NFA finally found its groove. Poirier-Vaughters tied the game with a a three-point play, followed by a putback.
Conley nailed a 3-pointer with under a minute remaining in the third quarter, giving the Wildcats their first lead since 3:40 in the first quarter. Poirier-Vaughters added a layup with seconds left in the period to push NFA ahead, 37-32.
Burke continued the run with a 3-pointer and a jumper to start the fourth quarter. Poirier-Vaughters concluded the run with a layup as NFA went ahead, 44-32.
“The first half we were kind of rushing things, and defensively we weren’t really helping as much,” Conley said. “Halftime, we were only down four points (23-19) and were like, ‘We’re still in this game. They’re not up by too much. We just have to find our flow and our game.’ And that’s exactly what we did in the second half.”
Bacon senior Jillian Reynolds made two free throws to cut the Wildcats’ lead to 44-38 with over three minutes left.
Poirier-Vaughters put back Conley’s missed 3-pointer on the other end for NFA.
“She’s probably the most athletic kid we have,” Scarlata said of Poirier-Vaughters. “She gives us a threat inside and she’s a great rebounder.
“She actually got sick at the end of the first period and went in (to the locker room) and threw up. When she was out of the game, we had trouble rebounding. She adds a lot.”
n.griffen@theday.com
Comment threads are monitored for 48 hours after publication and then closed.