THOMASTON — If you can’t have a state tournament thanks to COVID-19, the Thomaston girls basketball team might have the next best thing.
Starting with a 55-23 Tuesday night win over Shepaug, the Golden Bears play three more of the Berkshire League’s best teams in the next four days for a midseason tournament feel.
Coach Bob McMahon takes a more standard approach in a 12-game shortened regular season that’s still not guaranteed to reach a bona fide league tournament at the end.
“The kids are really excited to play against anyone,” he says. “Whoever we have next, it’s just another game. They just want to play.”
Nevertheless, Thomaston fans, used to the kind of exhilaration that five straight Class S finals and two state championships brought them between 2013 and 2017, might see it differently.
Shepaug came to Thomaston Tuesday night 2-1 with just a narrow loss to undefeated Nonnewaug on its down side.
The Thomaston girls put the game away in the first quarter, going on a 10-0 binge with multiple steals after a 2-2 opening tie.
By halftime, the Bears led 33-12.
Junior center Sydnee Eggleton, the game’s leading scorer with 19 points including three second-half 3’s, also took a standard Thomaston approach.
“We go into each game with the same mind set,” she said. “Defense leads to offense.”
Tuesday, as usual for good Thomaston teams, defense led to lots of offense.
Eight Bears scored. Emma Sanson followed Eggleton with 13 points and Emma Kahn had 10.
Along the way, Thomaston’s defense held Shepaug star Brooke Donathey to a team-high seven points.
So the week’s tournament feel is off to a great start for Golden Bear fans. Wednesday night, Thomaston visits Nonnewaug in Woodbury. Friday and Saturday are home games against Housatonic and Northwestern.
If the Bears sweep all four games, their fans can decide if it’s that championship feel.
THOMASTON 55, SHEPAUG 23
SHEPAUG 5 7 3 8 — 23
THOMASTON 20 13 7 15 — 55
SHEPAUG (23): Eilish Crossley 2-2-4; Rachel Andrews 2-0-4; Madison Dousky 0-1-1; Brooke Donathey 2-3-7; Claire Kersten 0-2-2; Haylie Laskey 0-2-2; Abby Harty 1-0-3; Totals: 6-10/14-23
THOMASTON (55): Emma Kahn 4-1-10; Elyse Krasnowski 1-0-2; Aurelia Barker 1-0-3; Rejhana Aliu 1-0-2; Nicole Decker 2-0-4; Ava Harkness 1-0-2; Emma Sanson 6-1-13; Sydnee Eggledton 8-0-19; Totals: 24-2/5-55
3-point goals: S — Harty. T — Kahn; Barker; Eggleton 3
Records: Shepaug 2-2; Thomaston 5-0
