Avon High School Sports Roundup for Feb. 21-26

The Avon High School boys and girls basketball teams both have some work to do but they are heading in different directions.

The lady Falcons had a disappointing NCCC tournament, dropping a semifinal matchup against East Granby at home and then losing to Suffield in the consolation game.

The boys finished the regular season with two wins in their last three games and they also opened the NCCC tournament with a victory over East Granby on Saturday.

Girls Varsity Basketball:

The Falcons finished the regular season with a record of 17-3 and captured the NCCC regular season title with just one league loss all season.

Avon opened the NCCC tournament with a victory over Granby, 52-46, on Monday at Avon High School and the Falcons hosted the semifinals on Wednesday. The Falcons got off to a fast start against the Crusaders but could never deliver a knockout blow and eventually suffered a 46-44 defeat.

“Obviously the NCCC tourney did not go as we wanted it to,” Avon coach Frank Waters said. “We had been in the championship game for eleven years in a row and won 10 of them, so to not make it this year was very disappointing.”

No. 1 seeded Avon led the entire game before fourth-seeded East Granby hit a last-second basket to pull off the upset.

“We led East Granby for 31 minutes and 59 seconds, their only lead was on the last basket. But we couldn't put them away,” Waters said. “We were tentative and so-so defensively. We also made some bad decisions late in the game.”

East Granby outscored Avon 16-9 in the fourth quarter to advance to the championship game against Ellington. The second seeded Purple Knights won the NCCC tournament with a win over the Crusaders, 60-45, on Friday.

Avon played Suffield in the consolation game and suffered another loss.

"Against Suffield, it was more of the same for three quarters, but in the fourth quarter we suddenly stopped thinking, started playing aggressively, took the ball to the basket. And we wiped out an 11point deficit,” Waters said. “I even thought we did some good things in the last minute though the ball didn't bounce our way.”

Despite falling short in the NCCC tournament, the Falcons at least have their effort in the comeback against Suffield to build on. Avon is the fifth seed in the state Class L tournament and will face the winner of the Masuk-Windsor game in the second round on Thursday at Avon High.

 "Our effort at the end of the Suffield game gives me some optimism going into the state tourney,” Waters said. “We are in a tough bracket and will face a formidable, but not unbeatable, second round opponent in Masuk or Windsor. If we can get by that we'll likely have to go to Hillhouse and take on the #1 team in the state. But we have talent and if we can play 32 minutes of good basketball anything can happen.”

According to to Waters, Emily Jordan and Caroline Jadovich, who made all-conference, continue to play well, and Kiera Givens played particularly well against Suffield.

That’s a start, but Waters knows his team will need more for a run in the tournament.

“We need everyone to step up to make a run in the states,” he said.

Boys Varsity Basketball:

The Falcons went 11-9 in the regular season and they opened the NCCC tournament with a 62-38 rout of East Granby in the quarterfinals on Saturday.

Avon advances to a semifinal matchup on Tuesday and has the Class L tournament to look forward to as well.

East Granby actually led Avon by three at the half but the Falcons came out and totally dominated the Crusaders over the final 16 minutes, outscoring them by 27.

Ice Hockey:

The Windsor-Avon-East Granby hockey team went 2-1 this week and is in the midts of an impressive season with a 14-4 record.

The Wave ran their win streak to seven games with an 8-0 rout of E.O. Smith-Tolland-Windham on Wednesday at UConn. Enfield ended their run with a 4-2 score on Friday in Enfield to avenge a 4-3 win by the Wave on Jan. 15.

The loss did not seem to affect the Wave all that much as they laced up the skates again on Staurday and posted a 4-2 victory over Watertown-Pomperaug at Avon Old Farms School.

The Wave are up to No. 3 in the state Division III rankings and have a pair of regular season games remaining. They face Shepaug-Litchfield on Monday at the Gunnery and then close out the regular season Tuesday against Rockville-Manchester-Stafford  at the Bolton Ice Palace.

Three of the Wave’s losses are against D II teams, including Enfield, and they lost 3-1 to D I Tri-Town on Dec. 18.