NAUGATUCK — The Greyhounds head into the Naugatuck Valley League tournament a battle-tested unit that runs ten players deep.
The tournament tips off Saturday with the quarterfinal round. With one game left Thursday against Kennedy, Naugatuck (14-5 overall, 12-5 NVL) is locked in as the No. 5 seed and will face No. 4 Ansonia (15-4 overall, 14-4 NVL) in a quarterfinal game set for 11 a.m. at Holy Cross High School in Waterbury.
But before the Greyhounds could turn their attention to the postseason, they faced a big test last Friday against league-leading St. Paul.
“It will definitely be a test of what we have,” Naugatuck head coach Gail Cheney said before the game. “It’s always good to play against the top teams going into a tournament like this. We are going to have a tough draw in the first round no matter who we play. The league is so competitive this year and it’s anyone’s game.”
St. Paul handed Naugatuck a 55-41 defeat to remain perfect in NVL play. Sara Macary scored 16 points for the Greyhounds
St. Paul (18-2 overall, 18-0 NVL) is the No. 1 seed in the tournament. If Naugatuck defeats Ansonia in the quarterfinals, it would likely set up a third meeting with the Falcons, who also defeated Naugatuck, 53-36, in early January.
Sacred Heart (15-3 NVL) and Holy Cross (14-3 NVL) are the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds, respectively. Seymour (12-6 NVL) is the No. 6 seed, while Oxford and Watertown are the remaining teams in with seeding to be determined in the final game on Thursday.
The Greyhounds made a surprising run to their first-ever NVL championship game last season. Naugatuck appears to be deeper than last year’s team. The Greyhounds have a continuous rotation of ten players, with eight players that have scored in double digits at one time or another and led the team in scoring at least once.
“We have been lucky to have different players stepping up, and it certainly helps because it makes it harder to defend,” Cheney said. “But once you get to the NVL tournament everyone is going to do whatever it takes to win, so it makes it that much harder.
“So the more options you have the better off you are going to be in the long run. We saw the success we had last year spreading the offense around and we are just trying to continue with that this year.”
That spells trouble for teams that will try and neutralize freshman Sara Macary, who leads Naugatuck with 219 points, or senior Sarah Wisniewski, who has 141 points.
Macary led the Greyhounds with 12 points in a 40-33 win over Woodland on Feb. 1. She followed that up with a game-high 16 points in a 47-31 win over Wolcott on Feb. 5.
But the Greyhounds have plenty of options they can turn to.
Seniors Mia Rotatori (105 points) and Hailey Deitelbaum (100 points), junior Hailey Russell (111 points) and freshman Kaylee Jackson (83 points) all average about 6 points per game and have scored in double digits multiple times this season.
Senior Shannon Burns (65 points), juniors Brielle Behuniak (51 points) and Alyssa McNeil (24 points) and sophomore Alyssa Roberts (47 points) have shown the ability to make their presence felt as well.
“It really helps to have diversity,” Cheney said. “It doesn’t revolve around any one player, and if your opponent can shut that player down your chances of success are reduced drastically.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated from the article published in the Feb. 14 edition of the Citizen’s News to include information on games played after press time.
