The Darien Times

‘We could have won that game’: Wave ahead in third, then trounced by top seed

Written by Steven Buono
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 03:45 PM

Girls Basketball — FCIACs

Darien fell to heavy favorite undefeated host Danbury 63-40 in the FCIAC girls hoops opening round playoffs away on Saturday.

But in fact, it really wasn’t like that

Because it wasn’t before the last seed had put up a good fight against the No. 1 — tying it and even leading in the third — that things buckled and caved in on Darien.

“...We could have won that game,” said Darien coach Gary Peterson. “We tied it at the half, were only down by five at the end of three, and we lose by 23.

“You tell me how that happens?”

Kate Bushell led Darien with 12 points.

The Wave waits for states at 12-9 while the Hatters improve to 21-0.

Meg Marren scored 10 points, Kelly Karczewski nine on a game-high three 3-pointers, Emily Stein six, Amy Biggart two, Lane Davis one.

Wave scoring totals were 15 4-8 40.

Led by Rebecca and Rachel Gartner with 24 and 16 points respectively, Danbury had totals of 25 9-14 63.

Darien trailed by six after one period, then rallied to tie it 25-25 at the half.

But the Hatters took over in the second half, outscoring Darien 14-9 in the third quarter and 24-6 in the fourth.

Maybe it was the massive weight of the Hatters’ presumptive crown, weighing down upon and cracking the Wave?

“That’s all it is — it was the pressure,” said Peterson.

The pressure was stopped-up nicely long enough to later leave the Wave wondering what might have been. And going in, not many outside the team would have even thought that a likely outcome after a loss to the FCIAC’s mad monster of 2012.

“I’m so disappointed,” said Peterson. “We gave them hell for three-and-a-half quarters.”

The Hatters took advantage of their opening down the stretch, wide enough, just long enough, to fly a jumbo jet through.

“Just turnovers,” Peterson said. “I think it was nerves — we just handed it to the other team — throwing over our head, out of bounds.”

It all came tumbling down in just a few minutes in the fourth.

Added Peterson: “From being down five, to being down 15, in three minutes.”

Darien is 15th in Class L with seedings and playoff dates scheduled to be released by the CIAC on Wednesday afternoon.

And according to Peterson, it looks like there will be an initial contest between lower ranked teams, here hosted by DHS, to open the tournament.

“We drew Farmington,” said Peterson of the 18th place 12-9 presumed opponent. “I’m looking at some of the teams that they’ve played. And we’ve got a home game, and I’m looking to win the game.

“In fact, I saw somebody strange in the stands (at Danbury) scouting, so it could have been them.”

Tentatively, states begin Feb. 28 for the Wave.

“I think we should be favored,” added Peterson. “But if they’ve got to look at us, you know... We’ll make a couple of changes. Throw a couple of things in there that we haven’t done in a while.

“Overall, we’ll just play our game, that should be enough to win it.”

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