New London — There were 14.4 seconds left in the third quarter when New London super-guard Jayden Burns was helped off the court.

Not long after that, Bacon Academy had tied the game 33-33. Burns was now on the sidelines, jogging back and forth, proving to New London trainer Michelle LaForte and Burns' dad, Johnny, that it was only a cramp and she was good to go.

What she did after that?

Helped win the game.

The Whalers, ranked sixth in the most recent GameTimeCT Top 10 poll, edged Bacon 45-41 by coming from behind for the second straight game and very much earning coach David Kohn's favorite description of them: battle-tested.

"The bottom line, I lost track, I think it was the seventh or eighth game we've come from behind. Each time you do that, you build confidence you can do that," said Kohn, in his first season at New London. "Nothing brings them down. They're a bunch of scrappy guards. I said it 100 times, we're battling height and depth with intensity and guts.

"I love watching them. I love coaching them."

Burns, the point guard, finished with 12 points, nine rebounds, four assists and a steal.

After Olivia Yard gave the Whalers (14-3) the lead for good on a 3-pointer with 5:18 remaining at 36-33, Burns was the next to score on the front end of a fast break. And she hit one of two free throws to make it 39-35.

Burns then fed sophomore Joniyah Bland-Fitzpatrick twice, once resulting in a pair of free throws and once, on a sligshot of a pass from right to left, yielding a layup. Wendy Gethers added two free throws at the 48.3-second mark to make it a comfortable lead at 45-37. Bacon finished the scoring for the final margin.

Bland-Fitzpatrick had 19 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals and Gethers eight points, 11 rebounds and two steals for New London. It was Gethers who scored in the waning seconds earlier in the week in a 58-56 win over Eastern Connecticut Conference Division I rival East Lyme, a game in which New London trailed 17-6 after one quarter.

"We always end up pulling out the game in the fourth quarter," Burns said of New London's recent string of rallies.

How?

"By being a family," Burns said. "We knew we all did good. And whatever happens, happens. (If we lose), we're still going to be family. Knowing your teammates have your back. At the end of a game, we just want to win.

"A lot of people didn't expect us to get this far. We just have to come and have the right mindeset to be able to be one of the top in the state."

Freshman Marissa Nudd finished with 20 points for Bacon Academy (13-2), which has its only two losses this season to top 10 teams Norwich Free Academy and New London.

Nudd had six in the first quarter when Bacon claimed a 13-10 lead. The Bobcats went ahead 11-10 on a 3-pointer by Caitlin Shea and Nudd closed the quarter on a fast break. Bacon led 21-18 at halftime behind 10 points from Nudd.

It was Bland-Fitzpatrick who scored the first two baskets of the third quarter, however, the second on a loose ball which she turned into a layup to give the Whalers a 22-21 lead. New London parlayed the quick start into a 13-2 run which gave them a 31-23 lead, with nine of the points from Bland-Fitzpatrick, including a 3-pointer, and four from Burns.

New London hung on to a 31-27 lead after three and Gethers scored to start the fourth quarter. Bacon then scored six straight before Burns hit the scorer's table to re-enter, helping the Whalers to close out the game.

"A cramp. That was my first one," Burns said. "I really wanted to come and play. I love cheering on my teammates, but it was a close game."

New London is coming off a 25-3 season in which they finished as the Class LL runner-up and second in the state poll. The Whalers graduated their entire frontcourt, however, including The Day's All-Area Player of the Year Tai Pagan, now playing at Division II Post University.

"These girls are a tight family," Kohn said. "They were a tight family before I came in. Each game we play there are no guarantees. Sometimes you can argue we are the underdog. But there's something about this group."

The Whalers play South Windsor at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at home before facing a rematch against East Lyme on Tuesday. A win over East Lyme would give the Whalers at least a share of their seventh straight ECC divisional title.

v.fulkerson@theday.com