UNCASVILLE – If somebody told Mercy girls basketball coach Tim Kohs at halftime that his team would end up scoring 47 points in the Class MM championship game, he would have thought the Tigers would win – considering they only had 16 points at halftime.
They did score 47 points but they didn’t win. New London had just a little more and won its first title since 2017, 57-47, at Mohegan Sun Sunday night.
Serenity Lancaster, a 6-2 sophomore, was too much for No. 4 Mercy (20-7). She had a double-double (24 points, 12 rebounds) and added six blocks for the sixth-seeded Whalers (21-6).
Senior Ava Giansiracusa had 17 points for Mercy and senior Sophie Hedge had 16 points and six rebounds.
“I knew it was going to be a good game,” Kohs said. “They’re a really talented team and I thought we’d have to play well to win. I thought we played pretty good but not good enough.
“Defensively, we had some breakdowns that led to easy baskets. Weak-side rebounding: the shot goes up, we’re nowhere near where we should be.”
New London’s only senior, Nalyce Dudley, who is heading to Sacred Heart next year, had 13 points on 2 for 8 shooting.
“I thought we did a great job on Dudley,” Kohs said. “Lancaster is just too long, too athletic. We lost her a couple of times but for the most part, she just went and got the ball and laid it in the basket.”
Still, Mercy hung around for a long time. New London led 20-16 at halftime and by the end of the third quarter, had a 38-33 lead, still in reach. Three of New London starters – Nalyce Dudley, Nyarah Dudley and Ky-Ani Allgood – had four fouls and New London only has seven players but they managed to avoid fouling out.
“We were trying to go at them all day, but you got to do it, you got to make plays and you got to get the call,” Kohs said. “We talked about it all week, you don’t try to avoid them, you try to get the call but we didn’t get enough chances. They’re going to let you go when they’re in foul trouble – they don’t let you go but they make sure they don’t foul. They did a good job.”
Mercy loses five seniors, including Kohs’ daughter Avery. They had to play a lot when they were freshmen and finished 9-11 and lost in the first round of the tournament in 2020. Last year, they went 19-6 and this year, they made it to the final.
“It’s hard,” Kohs said. “These kids have been great. The senior class has been tremendous. This group plugged along and got their butts handed to them early on freshman year and got better and better and had a nice season. But there’s only five happy teams and we ain’t one of them.”
