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Girls Basketball

Greenwich’s instant chemistry has team rolling early in the season

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Trinity Catholic coach Charlie Miller shouts to his players the first half of the Lady Crusaders basketball season opener against Greenwich in Stamford, Conn. on Dec. 20, 2019. Greenwich won 57-45.
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Trinity Catholic coach Charlie Miller shouts to his players the first half of the Lady Crusaders basketball season opener against Greenwich in Stamford, Conn. on Dec. 20, 2019. Greenwich won 57-45.

Matthew Brown / Hearst Connecticut Media

Normally, high school basketball teams spend much of December building chemistry and searching for an identity.

The Greenwich girls basketball team is well ahead of the curve, already looking like a team in February, rather than a team heading into holiday break.

And the Cardinals are doing it with a mix of younger and older players, making the instant success even more impressive.

“I can’t stress this enough, the chemistry on this team is something we have not seen here in a solid five years,” Greenwich coach Chrys Hernandez said. “I have high hopes and expectations for them and they are coming along, just fine. This year’s team has a very high basketball IQ. They understand how to move without the ball, make the next pass and they are so unselfish. They all want to see the team succeed.”

Friday afternoon, the Cardinals put the rest of the FCIAC on notice, going into the gym of defending Class S champions Trinity Catholic and handling the Crusaders without much resistance.

Passing the ball like they have played together for months rather than weeks, the Cardinals rolled to a 57-45 win on Walsh Court. Greenwich led by as many as 18 points in the fourth quarter.

The Cardinals are 2-0, scoring a combined 133 points in the first two games.

“I knew these girls, both the new ones and some of the ones we have returning, were capable of scoring the ball. They just needed to find a rhythm and they have done that very, very quickly,” Hernandez said. “Our game plan tonight was clear. They are defending state champions and we are the ones coming here with something to prove. We had a good showing in our season opener (76-20 win over Wright Tech) but we knew this was going to be a different kind of test.”

Friday, Greenwich started two freshmen in Mackenzie Nelson and Ava Sollenne along with sophomore Kristin Riggs and two seniors, Julia Conforti and Ciara Munnelly.

Nelson was electric, scoring a game-high 23 points, knocking down four 3-pointers while Riggs added 12 points.

The Cardinals scored 22 points in the first quarter and led 36-28 at halftime, moving the ball inside and out until open shots presented themselves.

“We wanted to really move the ball around and shift the defense and get a bunch of looks,” Munnelly said. “We want to shift the defense. Get it in to the middle and the post then shifting it out. We have a lot of good shooters and good ball handlers and a few post players. All the options are good.”

As a senior, Munnelly said the cohesion between upperclassmen and the younger players has been almost instant.

“We have five seniors and two new freshmen and a sophomore. The freshmen are really helpful and really know what they are doing,” Munnelly said. “It is helpful having shooters we can rely on and people we know can move the ball and see those open passes.”

Greenwich will face a few more tests over the holiday break with games at home against Ludlowe Monday at noon and at Pomperaug Dec. 27 at 6 p.m.

There is obviously a long way to go in the season but if Greenwich can keep this pace up, the rest of the FCIAC and the state will need to work hard to keep up.

Trinity was paced by 17 points by Isabella Edwards and 13 from Caitlyn Scott.