Old Lyme — It had been 86 days since the likes of Emily DeRoehn, Sam Gray, Grace Lathrop or Ellie Zrenda played a meaningful game. Eighty six days since the four seniors played in the Shoreline Conference championship game for the Old Lyme girls' soccer team on Nov. 6, 2020.

And then there was nothing. No CIAC tournament. The start of winter season was tentatively postponed in December. All any winter athlete could do was wait and hope for a season.

DeRoehn, Gray, Lathrop, Zrenda and the rest of the Wildcats got to start their abbreviated winter girls' basketball season on Wednesday. Finally.

"I was just kind of excited to play some basketball because I haven't played a real game in a while," DeRoehn said after a 41-22 loss to Coginchaug in the Shoreline Conference opener for both teams. "I was just looking forward to getting back to it with my friends."

Lathrop said, "We have been waiting for our senior season forever. We've been playing together since we were eight, so we've been waiting for this for a while.

"We really wanted to just get out there and play our last season together while we can."

Senior Jessica Berens, a 6-foot-4 center who has committed to Division I Bryant, had 18 points, 21 rebounds and five blocks for Coginchaug.

DeRoehn, The Day’s 2020 All-Area Girls’ Soccer Player of the Year, had six points, seven rebounds and five steals for Old Lyme. Sophomore Alexis Fenton added six points and Gray had six rebounds.

Winter practices were originally scheduled to start on Dec. 5, 2020 before the CIAC moved that date back to Jan. 19. It announced on Jan. 14 that winter practices would indeed start on the 19th and that boys' and girls' basketball teams could play up to 12 games and in conference tournaments. It also ruled against state tournaments for all sports.

DeRoehn didn't think there would be a basketball season.

"We heard that we were going to start playing in January," she said, "but I thought it was going to be pushed back again; pushed back like soccer season (the fall season started a month late in October)."

The game was played without fans (an announcement encouraging good behavior from the crowd was, weirdly enough, made beforehand). A camera was set up at mid-court across from the benches to livestream the game. Chairs on the bench were spaced apart and in rows. There was a "mask break" with over three minutes left in every quarter.

"You kind of forget it's there (a mask) until you go sprinting up-and-down the court and you can't breathe for a little bit," Lathrop chuckled.

Coginchaug led 11-0 after the first quarter and scored the game's first 13 points.

Gray scored the Wildcats first points on a layup with 5 minutes, 42 seconds left in the half.

The Blue Devils led by as much as 36-6 less than a minute into the fourth quarter before they began subbing liberally.

"We definitely had a lot of nerves before the game," Lathrop said. "We were excited to finally be able to play again after a couple of weeks of straight practice.

"We're definitely going to get past this game; just kind of put it behind us, learn from it, and get ready for our next game Friday against Portland."

n.griffen@theday.com