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Ansonia junior Brooke Neal looks to shoot against Bradford Thursday.
The Lady Tigers broke a four
game losing streak with a 42-36 Cross
County Conference victory over Bradford. Neal led all in
scoring with
14 points. CNO Photo by Danny Stockton, stocktonstudio.com
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Ansonia wins in
come from behind fashion
Lady Tigers put three in double figures
By George Starks
ANSONIA- Coming in on a four game losing streak, the Ansonia Lady
Tigers needed to get things back on track.
With losses to some stiff competition, the most recent being Parkway in
a 60-30 loss to the Panthers.
Thursday, the Tigers were staring at its fifth consecutive loss but the
Tigers would not be defeated.
Ansonia, had to scratch and claw for everything it got but in the end,
the Tigers held on for a 42-36 victory over Bradford in a CCC contest.
It wasn’t the best start head coach Jim Bolin could have envisioned for
his team.
Bradford, coming off a 20 win season a year ago, hasn’t had the best of
times in 2015, came in with a 5-15 mark on the season.
On the strength of some stellar shooting from sophomore Mandi Bates,
the Lady Railroaders jumped out to an early 9-0 lead and was looking to
blow the Tigers right out of their own gym on senior night as Bates
accounted for seven of the nine Roader points.
Ansonia, finally got on the board with 1:45 left in the quarter on a
bucket by Stephanie Garrett.
“We started out slow and we’ve been doing that the last few games,”
said Bolin. “You have to give the kids credit, they could have just
laid down and quit but they kept coming back. They stayed with it and
ended up winning it.”
On a night when hitting free throws meant everything to the Tigers
(8/11), it was Garrett who steped up big for Ansonia late in the game.
With 1:02 left in the game, the Ansonia sophomore calmly dropped in two
free throws, giving the Tigers a four point cushion, 38-34.
Garrett finished with 11 points on the night, going 6 of 8 from the
charity stripe.
“We’ve been talking to Stephanie all season about shoot the
basketball,” said Bolin. “She is more than capable of shooting the ball
and does a good job at the line.”
Trailing 11-4 after the first quarter, Ansonia started to pick up the
pace in the second frame.
Neal opened up the second with one of her four three pointers, drawing
the Tigers to within a 11-7 count.
Staying persistent on both ends of the floor, the Tigers went into the
break trailing 20-16.
Ansonia gained its first tie of the night when junior Abby Helmke
scored with 6:04 left in the quarter, giving the Tigers a much needed
shot in the arm.
“Abby had a slow start at the beginning of the season and she really
hasn’t got back to form,” Bolin pointed out. “She’s coming around and
she’s more than capable of scoring in double figures every night. I
just want to get the whole team back and one night, surprise some
people.”
Despite falling behind, Ansonia never lost sight of the goal, holding a
26-26 tie with eight minutes left on the game clock.
With Lydia Sink out with injury, Neal has stepped up for Bolin and
Thursday, she scored 14 with four triples.
“Brooke’s an excellent shooter,” said Bolin. “Since Lydia’s went down,
she’s kind of taken over the team and she’s enjoyable to coach.”
Ansonia will close out the regular season today with Fairlawn in a
varsity only game, starting at 1 pm.
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