Best Of List: Top Winter Girls Sports Performances

Let's take a final look at the winter sports season before spring matchups get underway. There was ultimate victory and heartbreak. There were outstanding individual performances and groups of individuals who fused into teams greater than the sum of their individual parts.

Here then, is an informal accounting of the last few months.

BEST CLUTCH PERFORMANCE: A year ago, the Windsor girls indoor track team finished second in the Class L championship meet to Darien. This year, it seemed history might have been in rewind. The Warriors trailed the Blue Wave by nine heading into the final event, the 4x200 meter relay.

So many bad things can happen in a relay. A simple botched exchange of the baton can change victory to defeat in a heartbeat. But the team of Chalsea Clarke, Courtney Kearse, Janae Wilson and Brianna Allen withstood the pressure and ran Windsor to a championship.

Their time of 1:46.32 was more than three seconds better than second-place Middletown (1:49.45) and earned the Warriors the 10 points needed to overtake Darien.

BEST GAME: There were many great ones but it's hard to top the mid-season measuring stick girls basketball meeting between Tolland and E.O. Smith in January. This is a new rivalry but it bears watching because it has everything needed to become a great one. The schools are close to each other. They are both well coached and the games have been thrilling.

In this one, E.O. Smith held a comfortable lead in the fourth quarter only to watch Tolland nearly erase it with an 8-0 run. It was left for Maggie Sundberg to knock down some late free throws to secure a 50-46 for E.O. Smith.

Tolland coach Rocco Sansone didn't seem too broken up by the loss.

“It was fun,” he said.

This a man who understands a rivalry game is ultimately good for both teams.

TOUGHEST LOSS: For the second straight season Sansone lost in the tournament in overtime. This one was especially difficult because the Eagles let a fourth-quarter lead slip away to Windham in the semifinals. The Whippets went on to win the Class M championship.

Tolland will be back. The Eagles had one senior, Sarah Anischik, and have a dynamic group returning next season. So they might as well get the WAIT 'TIL NEXT YEAR honor, too.

CINDERELLA STORY: Windsor Locks was a solid 12-8 in the regular season. Not the kind of record that portends great things in March. But the Raiders went on a memorable run through the teeth of the Shoreline Conference.

They beat Hale-Ray, Coginchaug (the No. 2 seed) and Old Saybrook to reach the semifinals of the Class S tournament. This was a fitting ending for Jenna Wotjas and with Nikki LaPierre and Mariah Brown returning another tournament run is possible for coach Doug Knowe and the Raiders.

NOT YOU AGAIN: Manchester rode the talents of junior Ashley Perez to a nearly spotless regular-season. Nearly spotless. It seemed the only team capable of stopping the Indians was Glastonbury, which was loaded with seniors who bought into a game plan designed to force Perez to use all of her considerable skills to score.

Perez was able to light up the scoreboard but Glastonbury walked off with a regular season win and a win in the CCC championship game. So the Tomahawks were the one team Manchester didn't want to see on its side of the Class LL bracket.

No such luck. Glastonbury ended Manchester's season 68-52 in the quarterfinals. Perez and most of her supporting cast are back and so the Indians will have a chance at revenge next year.

MEET THE BUZZSAW: E.O. Smith reached its first state title game but once there they met Hillhouse-New Haven, which was the two-time defending champion, and had a dynamic duo of Bria Holmes and Andreana Thomas.

Maggie Sundberg led the Panthers with 16 points but the measure of their grit could be found on the boards, where they outrebounded the physically dominant Academics in the first half. The Panthers were behind the entire game but managed to hang in until a late fourth-quarter run finished them.

No shame in that.

CHAMP: Ellington had a fine season in girls basketball, led by All-NCCC performer Kelly Conley, but the headliner for the winter season was Claiborne Jones, who won the 55 meter championship at the Class M indoor track meet. Jones finished in 7.44 seconds to edge Nyle Clemens (7.55) of Career Magnet-New Haven.

Jones was also sixth in the 300 meter dash.

CONSISTENCY AWARD: Suffield finished the regular-season 15-5 in girls basketball and lost in the second round of the Class M tournament to Tolland. Last year, they finished 15-5 and lost in the second round to Morgan-Clinton.

The Wildcats are no doubt content with the 15-5 aspect but next season, all-NCCC player Brianna Bishop will no doubt want to push deeper in the state tournament.

BRIGHT SPOTS: It was a long winter for scholastic sports fans in Enfield and Vernon.

True, Fermi senior Rachel VanGilder earned all of her team's seven points with a third-place finish in the 55 meters and a sixth in the 300 in the Class L indoor track meet, but Fermi, Enfield and Rockville basketball teams struggled through tough seasons. Fans in both towns are looking forward to the change of season. They only have one week to wait.