Hamden’s Diamond White Goes up for a layup as East Haven’s Isabella Ragaini goes for the block during the SCC championship game on Wednesday.
John Vanacore / For Hearst Connecticut Media
BRANFORD — It took 25 years for Hamden to win its first Southern Connecticut Conference basketball championship.
Now you can make it two in a row.
The seventh-seeded Green Dragons knocked off fourth-seeded East Haven for the second consecutive year in the SCC title game with a 40-36 victory Wednesday night at Branford High School. Hamden tied Branford in 2010 for the lowest seed to win the SCC tournament crown.
“I knew we had potential and if we had our heads on the right way, we had the players to make it happen,” Hamden coach Amanda Forcucci said. “We talked about defense keeping us in games when our shots weren’t falling.”
SCC GIRLS BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT BRACKET
And that’s exactly what happened Wednesday night as Rebecca Oberman-Levine was the big game-changer for Hamden as she scored just seven points, but had 18 rebounds and 11 blocked shots. Plus, she forced plenty of bad shots.
“I know that’s my role on the team,” Oberman-Levine said. “I pride myself on blocking shots and rebounding and I knew I had to do that to win the game.”
Here’s what Hamden’s second-consecutive SCC girls basketball title looked like #ctgb pic.twitter.com/bCHHW3eIAJ
— GameTimeCT (@GameTimeCT) February 27, 2020
“That’s Rebecca in a nutshell,” Forcucci said. “I’m begging her to shoot more, but that’s what she does.”
Both teams came out nervous early as the first quarter was a little sloppy.
After East Haven’s Taylor Salato (16 points) scored the first four points of the game, Hamden went on a 7-0 run, keyed by five points from Diamond White (12 points).
GIRLS BASKETBALL LEAGUE TOURNAMENT HUB
Salato followed with a three-pointer from the top of the key to tie things at 7-7 halfway through the first quarter. Oberman-Levine and East Haven’s Erin Curran (14 points) exchanged baskets to close out the quarter.
Becca Oberman-Levine was dominant inside with 18 rebounds and 11 blocks to go with 7 points as Hamden repeated as SCC Girls Basketball champions, 40-36 over East Haven #ctgb pic.twitter.com/g10h9Wxlg8
— GameTimeCT (@GameTimeCT) February 27, 2020
In the second quarter, Hamden was able to pull away a bit. Tied at 11-11, the Green Dragons went on an 8-0 run over the final 5:56 of the first half. Asya Brandon (13 points) had five and White three of those points.
Salato was forced to the bench for the final 5:26 of the half due to early foul trouble.
“We had three starters in foul trouble and it comes down to philosophical move,” East Haven coach Anthony Russell said. “Do you keep them (on the bench) to make sure they don’t pick up their third. It was only a six-point game, so why take the chance.”
East Haven struggled to get the ball inside without them in the second quarter as Levine either blocked the shot or changed the course of the plenty of shots. And the Yellowjackets also had a hard time keeping possession of the ball as they turned the ball over five times and missed three treys.
“They came out as the aggressor,” Russell added. “They came out and played hard and they deserved it. We didn’t come out with a chip on our shoulders like we did in the semifinals.”
SCC Tournament MVP Aysa Brandon of Hamden on winning back-to-back SCC girls basketball titles #ctgb pic.twitter.com/UtayTAj40r
— GameTimeCT (@GameTimeCT) February 27, 2020
East Haven did close its deficit to six points a couple of times early in the third quarter. However, a short jumper by Oberman-Levine with 2:19 left in the period gave the Green Dragons their largest lead, 25-16.
A pair of layups by Salato pulled East Haven within five, 25-20, at the end of the third quarter.
The Yellowjackets were able to get as close as three points twice in the final eight minutes, 28-25 and 30-27, but a blocked shot by Oberman-Levine on Isabella Ragaini with just under three minutes to play led to a base line bucket by Hamden’s Montsho Canton that made it a five-point game.
It would be the closest East Haven would get until the final seconds as Hamden went to the foul line and knocked down eight down eight free throws down the stretch.
East Haven had won both regular season meetings, having beaten won in Hamden, 61-39, on Dec. 30 and, 49-42, at home on Jan. 17.
It was also the third consecutive loss in the SCC title game for the Yellowjackets, who also were beaten by Mercy in 2018.
“You start feeling like the Buffalo Bills of the 90s,” Russell said. “One more and we’ll be there. It’s frustrating, but I’m proud of our kids for getting here.”
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Hamden center Rebecca Oberman-Levine. She scored just seven points but collected 18 rebounds and blocked 11 shots.
QUOTABLE
“It feels good. Taking home the chip feels good. They worked hard and they deserved it.” — Hamden coach Amanda Forcucci.
