Southington — When Holly Misto arrived to coach the girls' basketball program at New London High School prior to the 2015 season, longtime boys' coach Craig Parker got a lasting first impression of her.

“I just found her accomodating as a new coach. I would walk into her practice and she would be welcoming, accomodating,” Parker said this week. “I truly enjoy watching the girls play. They're in their third final in four years. That's amazing.”

Parker has won more than 400 games and four state championships in 23 seasons on the boys' side, the last state title coming in 2011.

Misto, who coached for nine seasons at Westerly prior to New London, is 245-66 in 12 seasons, including a 2010 state championship with Westerly. Misto has lost a combined eight games in her three seasons with the Whalers, who will attempt to win the Class LL state championship — and most probably earn the state's No. 1 ranking — Saturday at Mohegan Sun Arena. Misto is the only female head coach among the eight teams in the finals.

“I find it interesting that we have opposite philosophies in a lot of regards. I like watching her philosophy. It's different, but at the same time she's been successful,” Parker said.

Parker, whose wife Missy is an assistant coach this season under Misto and is the school's softball coach, said that when the Whalers won the 2014 Class M state championship under former coach Kerrianne Dugan, he sent Dugan an email telling her that was the most important banner ever hung at New London High School. It was the first for a girls' sports.

“Female athletes have suffered for many, many years (in New London),” Parker said.

“(Now), they're not up there with us, they're above us. I think it's great.”

ECC's finest

Along with New London, Bacon Academy will also represent the Eastern Connecticut Conference on Saturday at Mohegan Sun Arena, taking on New Fairfield in the Class M championship at 3 p.m.

Bacon is the lowest seed (No. 11) of any team to reach the final. The Bobcats were 15-5 in the regular season, with consecutive losses to Norwich Free Academy, Stonington and Waterford at a time when they were dealing with a concussion to sophomore starting forward Kellie Nudd.

They also lost in the ECC semifinals to NFA 70-47, allowing NFA senior Hailey Conley to connect for seven 3-pointers and 41 points.

So how did Bacon right itself in time for a state tournament run which has included wins over higher-seeded Cromwell (No. 6), Notre Dame-Fairfield (No. 3) and Career (No. 2)?

“They were discouraged, but we just kept focused,” Bacon coach Dave Shea said at Thursday's CIAC Girls' Basketball Championship Luncheon. “The next game is the only game you can do anything about. They don't have any choice. They have to keep playing.

“They weren't easy games (in the state tournament). They were very difficult games. The Cromwell game was key. … You just hope you get down there (to Mohegan Sun) and play very relaxed and hopefully the shots are falling.”

They're No. 1

New London's opponent Saturday, Trumbull, is the top seed in the Class LL bracket and also the No. 1-ranked team in the GameTimeCT/New Haven Register top 10 (New London is third in both). But it didn't start out that way for the Eagles (26-1) and coach Steve Tobitsch.

In the preseason poll, Trumbull was barely in the “receiving votes” department, with 12. The Eagles were ranked behind such Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference powers as defending Class LL champ Stamford (fourth), Fairfield Warde (tied for eighth) and Greenwich (10th).

“You don't know what you have until the season begins,” Tobitsch said. “If you could have been at our first practice, you definitely would not have picked us. Then the wins started to pile up. Every game for us is a grind; that's why I do think we're ready.

“I always say it's a credit to the girls. We did come out of nowhere. There were other teams in the league with headlines, story lines, to start the season.”

v.fulkerson@theday.com