After winning nine games in its debut campaign with Head Coach Courtney Manciero last year, the North Branford girls’ basketball team saw significant improvement in Manciero’s second season by notching a record of 14-9 this winter. Along the way, the Thunderbirds earned a 53-48 victory versus Nonnewaug in the first round of the Class M State Tournament, before giving top-seeded Northwestern everything it could handle in a 49-43 second-round defeat.

“Our goals were to be competitive in the Shoreline Conference,” said Manciero. “We lost in the first round, which was upsetting for us, and then we won in the first round of the State Tournament against Nonnewaug.”

North Branford’s stormed out to a strong start this year as the team took advantage of five returning starters to win seven of its first nine games. Coach Manciero also felt that her athletes’ height played a major role in the Thunderbirds having such a successful season.

“With a lot of returning players, all five of our starters already learned the offense last year, so it’s easy to get right in,” Manciero said. “It’s hard for teams to match up with us, because we have three good-sized players. Most teams don’t have the same height and, since all three can play in the post, there’s always a mismatch. We could figure out who that was and capitalize on that.”

One of the Thunderbirds’ biggest moments of the year came when they claimed a 56-41 victory at Coginchaug on Feb. 12. North Branford had taken a 51-46 home loss against the Blue Devils just 10 days prior, but then won the rematch against the eventual Class S state champions. Manciero felt that her club played well in both games, although she was certainly happy to see North Branford get the win in the teams’ second meeting.

“They’re our biggest rival in most sports. The first game was at home and it was our Matt’s Mission game, so there was a big crowd. It was really cool, and we had a lot of energy. Even though we lost, it was the best I’d seen our team play up to that point,” Manciero said. “Ten days later, we played them on their court and ended up beating them by 15 points. It was a big deal, because they’re the toughest team we played, and we pulled it all together and beat them. They even went on to win Class S.”

North Branford featured four captains leading the way this season in seniors Marie Zampano, Morgan Violette, and Danielle Ramada, along with junior Jessie Kilburn. Coach Manciero said that quartet was the best set of captains that she’s ever coached throughout her career.

“They did a good job vocalizing to the team what had to be done in practices and games,” said Manciero. “They never fought over who was the leader and all respected one another. They made sure everyone else knew they needed to be respected and it was cool to see them do that.”

Violette was North Branford’s leading scorer and rebounder this season. She averaged 11 points and 10 rebounds per game on her way to earning All-Shoreline Conference Second Team honors, as well as the T-Birds’ Most Versatile Player Award. Ramada was named North Branford’s Most Valuable Player, Zampano was the recipient of the Desire and Dedication Award; and freshman Erica Piercey, who is expected to start at point guard next year, was the Rookie of the Year. Kilburn garnered All-Shoreline Honorable Mention for North Branford.