Lady Hornets’ Season Ends With Two Big Efforts

The Branford Lady Hornets basketball team entered the CIAC state tournament ranked 28th in the Class L Division. Their first game was on the road against the no. 3 ranked Naugatuck Greyhounds. Wouldn’t you know it? The Greyhounds played like they were overconfident against the lowly Lady Hornets and were upset, 41 – 24. 

n the next playoff game against SCC opponent and no. 12 ranked Jonathan Law, the Hornets started out like the Lady UConn Huskies, jumping out to a 22 – 8 lead after the first quarter. ​“We were doing pretty much everything right in the first quarter,” said Hornet coach Justin Henry. ​“Talk about putting it all together.”

The starting five for Branford included Marissa Minore (left), Karly King, Sophia Araneo, Victoria Raffone, and Emma Pierson.

Branford was humming along on both offense and defense. Here Victoria Raffone beats a defender and drives in for a layup.

But after being stunned early on, the Lady Lawmen came alive in the second quarter outscoring Branford 15 – 5, reducing the lead to 27 – 23. Still, Branford played with the motivation to pull off another upset, and outscored Law 13 – 12 in the third to remain ahead, 40 – 35. Here Marissa Minore takes a shot from the corner.

The hot-shooting Hornets were led by Junior Sophia Araneo (pictured) and senior co-captain Emma Pierson with 22 and 12 points respectively. Araneo had four three-pointers and Pierson had three.

Karly King chipped in with 11 points including one three-pointer, Victoria Raffone had five and Marissa Minore two, to round out the scoring. Here King gives a defender a little nudge on her way up court.

Here Araneo goes up for a layup.

The fourth quarter was pretty much all Law, and they outscored Branford 20 – 12. The Hornets were not as aggressive as they were early on. It appeared they had burned out after three tough quarters. They looked like they were playing more not to lose, and Law began to peck away at the lead. Branford held the lead until 3:57 of the fourth quarter when Law went up for good, 47 – 46.

Here Coach Henry gets into the action during the close game.

It was nip and tuck the rest of the way but Law never relinquished the lead when the buzzer went off. Emma Pierson’s (pictured) last second shot from out past the three-point line hit the rim and bounced away ending any chance for an overtime period and keeping the final score at 55 – 52 in the nail biter.

“I was proud of the girls the last two games,” said Henry. ​“I think beating Naugatuck with 17 wins and getting beat by Law that had 16 wins by only three points, surprised some folks. We only had eight wins, but we played the last two games like we had a lot more.”

In the end, his feelings gave way .Coach Henry looks dejected as the final buzzer sounds.

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