MCC Comes Back In Second Half To Beat UCAP On The Road

GROTON – Ericka Sagay (Bloomfield) had 14 of her 22 points in second half as Manchester CC (19-3) beat UConn – Avery Point (22-4) 74-69 Friday night in Groton.

UCAP, who came in with a 12-game win streak, erased a nine point deficit in a first half that featured five lead changes, and held a 33-32 lead into the break.

MCC took the lead for good on a Sagay basket that turned into a three-point play six minutes into the second half.

UCAP narrowed the gap to one point on a Karen Manning (19 points) breakaway layup with 1:10 left. But Erika Murphy (Torrington) cemented the win with a basket off a Sagay rebound from under the net with 37 seconds left in the game, giving MCC a 70-67 lead.

Mikal Mitchell (Windsor), who filled in admirably at point guard when Shenielle “Shorty” Duncan-Clarke (Bloomfield) fouled out three minutes into the second half, hit three free-throws in final 30 seconds. Murphy ended up with 19 points, 11 rebounds and five assists. Sagay added 11 rebounds and five blocks while Callie Tambling had 15 points. Murphy and Tambling played the entire 40 minutes.

“Mikal and Tyra (Brooks/Waterbury) did an excellent job coming in and managing the game,” MCC head coach Robert Turner Jr. said. “‘And we rebounded well. We had a lot of second chance points and overall it was a good effort from everybody.”

Manchester made 20 of 27 free throws while UCAP made nine of 13.

“UConn was overplaying a lot of our players, so we got a lot of back-door layups,” Turner said. “That is something we work on a lot.”

UCAP’s Sarah Paternostro (Glastonbury) led all scorers with 23 points, including six three-pointers. Manning, who is from Bolton, went over the 1,000 point mark in her two-year Avery Point career.

“I liked our effort,” second year UConn-Avery Point head coach Nate Stailey said. “We were down multiple times, fought back – they did the same thing. We are two strong willed teams. I just wish we had a couple more bodies. That could have been the difference.” Manchester used nine of the 11 players in uniform while Stailey made due with just one spare player after losing a pair to injuries during the season.

MCC took both games from UCAP this season after splitting the series the previous two years. The teams could meet for a third time next weekend in the NJCAA Division III, Region 21 Tournament at Massasoit CC in Brockton, MA. Tournament pairings and game times will be announced Monday evening. Check /athletics/wbasketball.php on Tuesday for further details.

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