North Branford girls’ basketball coach Chris Webster had high expectations for her team entering the recent campaign. The T-Birds featured seniors Sabrina LeMere and Gabby Augur manning the backcourt, as well as plenty of frontcourt depth, and so Webster thought the squad would win its fair share of games during the regular season. Ultimately, North Branford went .500 at 10-10, although the Thunderbirds did come away with a nice victory versus Prince Tech in the State Tournament.

“We only finished the regular season with a 10-10 record. But we did win the one CIAC Tournament game in an upset win over Prince Tech with very balanced scoring and a lot of assists,” said Coach Webster. “It was a good game. A lot of kids contributed and it was a nice way to end the season.”

North Branford entered the Class M State Tournament as the 27th seed and prevailed 69-50 against No. 6 Prince Tech in the opening round. The Thunderbirds recorded 21 assists on 28 baskets made in the game with LeMere leading the way by scoring 23 points and handing out eight assists. Unfortunately, things didn’t go the way North Branford wanted in the second round as they were eliminated from the tournament with a 70-51 loss to No. 11 Notre Dame-Fairfield to finish the season at 11-12 overall.

“We went to ND and they played the best game they played all year,” Webster said. “When they played us, they were on fire.”

The highlight from that game was the performance of LeMere. She scored a career-high 32 and broke the North Branford school record for career points with 1,398, surpassing the previous mark of 1,391.

“We got to see Sabrina get to break the record. It will be a long time before someone breaks it,” Webster said. “We didn’t want to put too much pressure on her. That’s when you start choking. We were very happy she did make it and had a career high that last game.

Aside from the scoring record, LeMere was one of three recipients of Webster’s Desire and Dedication Award and also named the team MVP. For the second-consecutive year, LeMere earned a spot on the All-Shoreline Conference squad and was a New Haven Tap-Off Club All-County selection. She’s still in the running for All-State and New Haven Register All-Area selections, but those honors have yet to be announced. Webster’s other recipients of the Desire and Dedication Award were junior Kelly Oliver and sophomore Marie Zampano.

“They played through a lot of injuries. Kelly hurt her knee, hurt her back, had been going to physical therapy, and had to take full weeks off. She really worked hard,” Webster said. “We count on her. She played through a lot of pain and she took a charge that was called a block against Prince Tech where the kid plowed into her and that finished her off. We had two trainers working on her and she pulled herself together for Notre Dame. She’s a tough kid, hard worker, and showed a lot of desire and dedication.”

As for Zampano, Webster liked how she constantly worked and developed her game in practice. Webster hopes that will pay dividends as the coach views Zampano as the player to step up in LeMere’s absence next season.

“You have to have desire to be a good practice player,” Webster said. “The kid will try to fill [LeMere’s] shoes. She sees the floor well, is a good defensive player and passer. Not playing behind Sabrina, she’ll have a little more confidence and belief in herself that she can do the job. Hopefully, she’ll be a good guard.”

Along with LeMere and Augur, North Branford’s other senior was Marissa Panzo and all three athletes were captains. Augur was an All-Shoreline Honorable Mention and named a New Haven Tap-Off Club Scholar Athlete. She played great on the perimeter offensively for North Branford and battled down low on defense by boxing out and corralling rebounds. Panzo also played great on the boards. Freshman Jessie Kilburn was named the team’s Rookie of the Year.

North Branford had five players finish with more than 100 points this season in LeMere (445), freshman Allie Augur (130), sophomore Danielle Ramada (129), sophomore Morgan Violette (127), and Gabby Augur (117). Oliver, Ramada, and Violette all grabbed more than five rebounds per game and should be important factors in North Branford’s frontcourt next year.

“We will need to do work in the offseason to be ready to be competitive,” Coach Webster said.

From the Sidelines

Regular season wins for the Thunderbirds came against Hyde (77-17), Windsor (52-43), Old Lyme (51-35 and 41-23), Westbrook (73-44), East Windsor (41-33), Haddam-Killingworth (63-44 and 61-36), and Valley Regional (60-48). The T-Birds also defeated Prince Tech 69-50 in the first round of the Class M State Tournament.

North Branford took its regular season losses to Morgan (70-59 and 62-40), Coginchaug (38-36 and 42-38), Cromwell (74-39 and 63-44), Portland (46-33), Valley (66-62), East Hampton (51-43), and Old Saybrook (38-35). Cromwell beat North Branford 70-29 in the Shoreline Conference quarterfinals and Notre Dame-Fairfield defeated the T-Birds 70-51 in the second round of the Class M State Tournament.