Rye Country Day’s top-seeded girls basketball team took home the Oscar, well not really, but they did win the Fairchester Athletic Association championship trophy on Saturday.
By Melanie Cane
Rye Country Day’s top-seeded girls basketball team took home the Oscar, well not really, but they did win the Fairchester Athletic Association championship trophy on Saturday.
The Wildcats won the FAA title by beating second-ranked Hamden Hall, 70-57. Rye Country Day had advanced to the playoff finals by defeating Greenwich Academy, 62-37, and Convent of the Sacred Heart, 41-35. Last season, the Wildcats were knocked off in the semifinals of the conference playoffs by Hackley.
Rye Country Day finished its regular season with a record of 18-4, with three of those losses in the last five games. Wildcats Coach Margaret Scarcella said the team had to regroup, refocus, and reunite to win the FAA conference title.
Early in the championship game, senior Carolyn Binder scored her 2,000th career point for the Wildcats, but her team still trailed Hamden Hall, 31-30, at halftime.
Rye Country Day adjusted its defense in the second half, having Binder and Zoe Verni cover Hamden Hall’s top two scorers, and it worked. The Wildcats went on to outscore their opponents 40-26 in the half to win the title.
Binder finished the game with 26 points, upping her career total to 2,017. Nereida Mendez scored 16 points, including a crucial three-point shot that helped spark the winning momentum. Tara Berger grabbed 20 rebounds. Cracking down defensively with Verni were Jen Holland and Maria McEnroe.
“They played such a team game with all of the players contributing to the win by working together,” Coach Scarcella said.
The Wildcats are the No. 2 seed in the playoffs, which began this week.