Courtney Gomez, the second-year head coach of the Norwich Free Academy girls' basketball team, recently received a picture on her phone of her four seniors on the tennis court with their racquets.

It's worth noting that Sarah Ericson, Anajah Ingram, Jenissa Varela and Cassidy White have never played for the Wildcats' tennis team.

"I'm like, 'are you guys serious?," Gomez laughed. "Apparently Sarah Ericson is pretty good at tennis, which isn't surprising, but I don't think the other three have actually played. Anajah was going to play golf. She's pretty good at golf, but I think she wanted to play tennis so that she could be with her friends.

"They want to keep playing together. ... It is so cool that they trust and love each other like that. They showed it on the floor."

The Wildcats showed it all 13 times they played during this abbreviated Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference season as they went unbeaten and were rarely pushed. They finished the season as the No. 1 team in the GameTimeCT/New Haven Register state coaches and media poll, which was released Tuesday night.

"It's exciting to be respected among the state," Gomez said about the ranking. "It's nice to be recognized, but what (the team) accomplished this year in terms of their leadership and the relationships that they had with each other, I think that's something they're going to look back on and remember."

NFA received 490 points and got 10 of the 17 first-place votes. It finished its season with a 57-33 win over Waterford in the Eastern Connecticut Conference South Division tournament championship on March 25. It was its second straight ECC tournament title and its 20th conference title since 1995.

Notre Dame of Fairfield (12-1) was No. 2 with 470 points and three first-place votes. It was the South-West Conference champion.

Ridgefield (16-0), the Fairfield Country Interscholastic Athletic Conference champion, was third with 462 points and the other four first-place votes.

Locally, Killingly (13-0), the ECC North Division tournament champion, had 22 points and Bacon Academy (6-2) received one 15th-place vote.

The Wildcats stormed through their schedule and won by an average of 25.9 points. They allowed 34 points or less in nine games. Their closest game was a 57-46 victory over Fitch in an ECC South Division tournament semifinal.

NFA also dominated with a short bench. Its four seniors and junior Caitlin Daley started. Junior Cynthia Deneus and sophomore Aryaah Loftis were the only other players who averaged double digits minutes.

"The team was senior heavy," Gomez said. "But if you were to go to the practice and see how those younger kids competed and learned every day, I think that was something that I'm really proud of. That (the seniors) cared about the program and the program's development enough to be able to instill the values that I'm looking for in those younger kids. ... And those younger kids, some of the freshmen we had, we had a group of sophomores and juniors, were really good at practices at trying to challenge and give their best effort in getting the kids that played a lot prepared to play.

"I think that (the seniors), more than anything, they wanted the program to be successful moving forward. It's not just about their year. That makes me really proud and I'm really grateful for them."

n.griffen@theday.com