East Hampton Bounces Back against H-K

East Hampton coach Shaun Russell was eager to see how his team would respond after a 24-point loss.

Russell was pleased with the beginning and the end of Thursday’s Shoreline Conference contest against Haddam-Killingworth. The middle was a little dicey, though.

Kelsey Booth had 18 points –including a key jumper late – and the Bellringers held on for a 47-38 victory over the Cougars in Killingworth.

Vanessa Freeman had 11 points and Sarah Denihan added seven for East Hampton (13-3, 9-2 Shoreline), which wasted little time avenging Monday’s 47-23 home loss to Cromwell that ended its 10-game winning streak.  The Bellringers aggressive defense helped them to a 22-6 halftime lead.

“I was real thrilled with the way the kids came out today, especially after Monday,” Russell said. “I thought they were focused. I thought the defense was tremendous in the first half.”

It wasn’t great in the second half, however. Thanks to senior captain Emily Anderson (19 points) and a pesky full-court trapping defense, H-K (8-8, 6-7) whittled a 15-point lead down to three with 3:13 left in the fourth.

“The rebounding got away from us a little in the second half,” Russell said. “Anderson is a great athlete. If she gets going on the boards, you can be in real trouble.”

The Bellringers were in trouble, but they responded, much to Russell’s delight. Booth, who sat out most of the third quarter due to foul trouble, hit a jumper that made it 38-33 with 2:59 to play.

The senior then added a layup that pushed the lead to six with 2:34 remaining.  Ashley Chasse’s second pair of free throws made it 44-36 with 1:46 to play and Booth added two more with just over a minute left.

Russell was happy with the way his team handled the adversity.

“When they cut it to [three] and we responded by pushing it to 10, I was real proud of that response,” he said. “The kids really pulled together and I was real proud of how they finished this game.”

Russell was also happy with the way they started the game. East Hampton hustled to every loose ball, contested every shot and seemingly grabbed every rebound.

“In the first half we didn’t give them one clean look,” Russell said. ”I thought we did a great job of having a hand up challenging shots.  In addition to that, we rebounded it pretty good in the first half.”

Said Haddam-Killingworth coach Jim Bombaci: “They just owned the boards on us [in the first half]. When you give somebody three, four, five shots and you get one you’re not going to win."

Despite the disastrous first half, Bombaci's team nearly did pull it out. The Cougars, who were held to just two field goals in the first two quarters, climbed back into the game with a 13-2 fourth-quarter run.

“I thought we did a real nice job,” Bombaci said. “I was proud of those kids in the second half. Not happy in the first, at all.”