WILTON — The St. Paul Falcons continued their early season success after advancing to the Pomperaug Holiday Tournament Championship on Wednesday night. Despite sloppy play in the first half, the Falcons defeated the Wilton Warriors 50-40 in the semifinals of the tournament.
Rebecca Kelly led the Falcons with a team-high 21 points and 11 rebounds. Audrey Theis had 11 points and five assists, and Olivia Dern had nine total points. Zola Cudjoe also contributed eight rebounds.
Ashley Masterson led the Warriors in scoring with 14 points, followed by Maddie Dineen with 11 points and Mary Kate Doyle with nine points.
St. Paul coach Joe Mohn said his team didn’t play well defensively in the first half, but made adjustments in the second half to lead to the victory. He said his team also jumped out and ran more in the second half, allowing them to build a comfortable lead and score in transition.
“We left too many uncontested shots,” Mone said. “They had a guard who was a very good 3-point shooter, but we were giving her too many easy looks. So in the second half we did everything we could to make sure she didn’t get many shots. Once we did that, they stalled offensively, but then we started doing a better job of breaking out and fast breaks.”
Mone added that Kelly has played well the last few games. Her performance against Wilton marked her third time as the team’s leading scorer, having led the team in scoring with 18 points against Oxford and 20 points against Woodland.
“She’s starting to score more around the basket,” Mone said. “She’s starting to show a little bit of a good finish. At the beginning of the year she was missing some easy shots, but she’s more focused on hitting them now and around the basket. It’s pretty tough.”
Kelly was able to have success against Wilton thanks to the Warriors’ extended zone defense. The defense allowed Kelly to get in and out of the gaps left by Wilton, which allowed Kelly to sneak up on blocks and look at the basket multiple times.
“She was kind of a mismatch for Wilton,” he said. “She was able to get great looks from our guards and all she did was finish. She’s doing a better job of finishing around the basket.”
Overall, the Falcons’ 5-0 start is a positive sign for St. Paul, but it’s not without its drawbacks. The Falcons have been inconsistent at times, and Mone believes the team has yet to play the full 32 minutes.
Although he got off to a slow start and improved in the second half, he said he would like to see a complete game from now on.
The Falcons’ next chance to play a complete game will be against Glastonbury in the Holiday Tournament Championship. Glastonbury Guardians are 4-1 with a 51-41 victory over Pomperaug in the tournament semi-finals.
Mone said it’s a tough team that plays at a similar tempo to St. Paul.
“I watched them play and they were very good,” Mone said. “They’re just like us, always up-tempo, so it should be a fast-paced game. They have some really good players. They seem to be playing hard and really It’s going to be a good final. I think it’s a toss-up. As always when two good teams play, whoever advances will be the winner, but it looks like it’s going to be a really good game.”
Tip-off will be Friday at 5 p.m. at Pomperaug.