A Very Special Season

There is a little-known secret outside of East Hampton Middle School circles these days – the girls’ basketball team.

The Panthers were unbeaten through nine games entering Thursday’s contest at home against another unbeaten team, Cromwell, and the game between the two best teams in the conference played out much as one would expect.

East Hampton’s run at a perfect season ended, but not because of a lack of effort and not without a little drama. The Panthers rallied from 13 points down in the second half and had several chances to take the lead. In the end, Renee Radavich’s long three-point shot in the final seconds came oh so close as Cromwell hung on for a 43-40 victory.

“It didn’t fall for us today,” East Hampton coach Rick Riebold said. “I’m not happy with a loss, but I feel like we gave it our best shot and we almost took them down. I have a really wonderful team to coach.”

Wins weren’t easy to come by before Riebold arrived two years ago. East Hampton had not won in two seasons. Riebold isn’t about to take credit, though, saying it’s all about this group of girls.

Such is life in a small town, where school sports are filled with ups and downs.

East Hampton got off on the wrong foot on Thursday, falling behind 9-0 before Radavich hit a free-throw with 1:56 left in the first quarter. Radavich added four more points to cut East Hampton’s deficit to 11-5 heading into the second quarter.

The early hole East Hampton dug was proving difficult to climb out of. Meghan Orbann’s driving layup pulled the Panthers within 16-12 and a basket by Radavich made it 24-16. Cromwell, however, seemed to have an answer each time and took a 26-18 lead into halftime.

Cromwell’s aggressive defense and foul trouble for East Hampton center Sarah Massie, who missed several minutes, set the tone in the first half.

“An excellent player,” Riebold said of Massie. “She’s a great rebounder, great defender. She just got caught with a couple of ticky-tack fouls. I hate that because when it’s a big game, you want the kids in there. She played well with the three fouls and later with the fourth.”

Whatever advantage Cromwell had in the first half, changed in the second.

Cromwell surged to a 31-18 lead before Morgan Slossberg scored on a putback to make the score 31-20. A turnover off an inbounds pass in East Hampton’s own end then gave two points and a 13-point lead back to Cromwell. However, it was a steal by Slossberg, who took it in for a layup, that got East Hampton within 33-23 with 4:36 left. More importantly, the basket signaled a shift in the momentum.

Two more baskets by Radavich helped pull East Hampton within 35-31 at the end of the third quarter.

The Panthers were in the midst of a 14-2 run that would see East Hampton get to 35-34 on a baseline jumper by Orbann. Later. Orbann’s driving layup with 3:19 remaining made it 39-38.

Missed opportunities defined the final few minutes for both teams. With five seconds to go. After Gyanna Russell made it 43-40 with an 18-footer, Cromwell was sent to the free-throw line, where it failed to convert.

It came down to one shot.

With five seconds left, East Hampton needed a three and executed the play about as well as a team could. With the length of the court to go, Radavich took the pass near midcourt, turned and ran several steps to gather momentum and launched a 35-footer or so. The shot was right on, just a couple of inches to the right as it banked off the backboard and bounced off the rim.

Afterward, nobody was hanging their head.

“I’m real proud of what our kids did,” Riebold said. “When I came here two years ago, they hadn’t won a game in two years. I was handed a pretty good deck. I knew they were going to be a good team. The only thing they needed was some encouragement. Last year they went 7-6 with some of the players up at the high school now. When this team gets to the high school, sophomore year, I’m expecting big things.”

Riebold had high praise for all his players, including the bench, but focused mostly on his eighth-grade starters, Massie, Orbann, Radavich and Slossberg.

As good as they all have been and potentially could be, it’s Orbann that Riebold points to as the one to watch down the road, especially if she can develop an outside shot.

“If she can learn to shoot from the outside ... she’s a great rebounder, she’s a very good defender and on a fastbreak, there’s nobody better,” he said.

That fastbreak was on display Thursday, with Orbann getting the ball and racing down the right side of the court toward the rim several times.

Radavich scored 11 points to lead East Hampton. Orbann had nine, Slossberg and Russell had seven and Massie, six.

Massie and Orbann are the team captains.

“I haven’t found a kid in 30 years of coaching that were better captains than these two,” Riebold said.

Riebold, who has been coaching for 30 years, went on to call this the best team he’s coached.

“I couldn’t be more proud of these kids,” he said. “They’re so fun to coach. I just love being with these kids. I’m going to miss this team.

“The part that hurts the most is when the season is over you don’t see them again unless you go watch them in high school.”

Riebold had one other lament.

“I’m a little disappointed we don’t have more people coming out,” he said.

The good news is, the secret is out and residents of East Hampton have two more chances to catch the team at home, Jan. 18 against Portland and Jan. 23 against Rocky Hill.

East Hampton Middle School (9-1)

Dec. 7: East Hampton 39, Colchester 27

Dec. 9: East Hampton 41, Hale-Ray 20

Dec. 13: East Hampton 38, Berlin 18

Dec. 15: East Hampton 51, RHAM 42

Dec. 20: East Hampton 49, Portland 11

Dec. 22: East Hampton 37, RHAM 33

Jan. 5: East Hampton 39, Rocky Hill 27                 

Jan. 6: East Hampton 30, Strong Middle 28

Monday: East Hampton 46, Colchester 37

Thursday: Cromwell 43, East Hampton 40

Jan. 18: Portland, 3:30 p.m.

Jan. 19: at Berlin, 3:30 p.m.

Jan. 23: Rocky Hill, 3:30 p.m.

Jan. 26: at Durham, 3:30 p.m.

Jan. 31: at Cromwell, 4:45 p.m.