Portland Finds the Answers in the Second Half

The message from coach Nick Chaconis at halftime of Portland's basketball game against visiting Haddam-Killingworth was simple. The response by the Highlanders showed the lesson was clear as well.

Portland (9-3) ran its offense more patiently and effectively and broke a halftime tie to defeat Haddam-Killingworth 52-50 in a game decided at the free-throw line in the final minute. The improvement in the Highlanders’ offense was the difference between the Shoreline Conference opponents.

Senior co-captain Kelly Coleman, limited to five points in the first half, paced Portland’s offense with 15 points. Lindsey Dionne, the other senior co-captain, added 14, including nine in the second half. Emily Anderson, in her second game back from injury for the Cougars, scored a game-high 32 points in part by making 10 of 11 free throws.

“We played hard on her the whole game,” said coach Jim Bombaci, whose Cougars lost their third consecutive game. “I think it was more a matter of what Portland did in the second half.”

Chaconis was not pleased with his team’s decision-making in the first half, nor was he satisfied with the game’s paces. The Highlanders following his half-time direction changed all that.

“The adjustment we made at the half was to run our offense once, run it twice all the way through and even a third time if we had to,” said Chaconis, whose team won its third straight. “We wanted to open it up for Kelly. Running the offense that many times would give her a little bit of space.”

Haddam-Killingworth (4-4) paid special attention to Coleman, who entered the game with a 20.5 scoring average and 9.0 rebounds per game. The Cougars used a box-and-one defense, with any defender ready to slide over to help cover her when the opportunity arose. With crisper and smarter ball movement by the Highlanders in the second half, Haddam-Killingworth had more to contend with than just keeping an eye on Coleman.

“She had to work hard for all of her points,” Chaconis said about Coleman, the 2009-10 Shoreline Conference Player of The Year.

Portland shot 9-for-17 (52.9 percent) from the free-throw line for the game, 5 of 10 in the fourth quarter. But they were 4 of 7 in the final minute, including making four in a row. Dionne’s two free throws with a half-minute left gave Portland a five-point lead. After an Anderson layup nine seconds later made it 51-48, Dionne put Haddam-Killingworth in a four-point deficit when she made the first of two free throws with 20 seconds to play.

Junior guard Alyssa Unikewicz and sophomore forward Laura Wall each scored eight points for Portland. Junior forward Sarah Bierly got into foul trouble for Portland – the Cougars were 14 of 17 from the free-throw line – and Chaconis rates her one of the Highlanders’ best defensive players.

Wall, who had averaged two or three minutes a game, played in her place and there was no void.

“It was a breakthrough game for Laura, definitely,” Chaconis said. “She played close to 15 minutes tonight and they were quality minutes.

“She came up big off the bench. She went right into the fire. She gives us more depth now. Sometimes as a coach, you get stuck in your [player] rotations. But now this will give us another option.”