The Valley Regional girls’ basketball team’s season came to a close last week with a loss in the first round of the Class M State Tournament. The Warriors took a 54-48 on the road against Woodland Regional High School. Valley’s young squad put together a solid season in Head Coach Jaimie Toto’s first year at the helm of the program. Without a single senior on the roster, the Warriors’ final overall record on the year was 8-15.

On March 2, the No. 25 seed Warriors headed to Beacon Falls to face off with No. 8 seed Woodland. Even in the loss, Coach Toto felt proud of her team’s effort against the Hawks, and the final score of 54-48 proved a testament to both teams battling hard all night.

“We were in it the entire game, and the girls fought really hard all the way to the last minute. Woodland was a very tough team mentally and physically,” said Coach Toto. “It was mostly us just being young, and that they’d been there before. You could tell they knew how to play through anything. That was great for our girls to learn. Hopefully, that helps us next year when we’re in a similar spot.”

The game was a back and forth battle and it all came down to the final frame. With 1:18 left to play, both teams were tied, after the Hawks missed a free throw, they got their own rebound and the Warriors gave up an and-1 lay up to trail by three points. After that, the game got away from Valley.

“They were shooting a free throw, missed, and then we gave up a key box out. When we gave up that layup and foul, that changed the game there,” Coach Toto said. “It came down to the last 20 seconds where they hit a few of their free throws, and we couldn’t climb out of that deficit.”

Regardless, Valley put up a valiant effort, especially considering that the team was hit with a major setback the week prior. Junior captain Addi Marchese was lost for the remainder of the season due to injury, and that was a huge blow to lose an upperclass athlete on a team already bereft of experienced high school players. Still, the Warriors were undeterred heading into states.

“We lost Addi the Wednesday before the game. After that, prepping for that states game was a lot different from any other game up until this point,” said Toto. “She’s our go to ball handler, and we trust her taking care of the basketball. Going into that game, the girls really faced that adversity head on.”

That fact meant that others would have to step up for the Warriors to even have a chance against a top-8 seed in states. Coach Toto was especially proud to see her players do just that. Junior captain Alena Crosby led Valley in scoring with 15 points, and she took an even more vocal role as captain in Marchese’s absence.

“I think that Alena kind of needed that. She has been a very strong captain from the start of the season, but Addi had been more the voice between the two them. Alena wasgreat after being put in that position,” said Toto. “Our bus was an hour late, and we showed up 15 minutes before tip off. Alena was trying to get the girl focused on the bus ride, and I could tell that the team was ready to go. She’s always been a stable scorer for us and leads that way, but I love seeing her take that vocal leadership role, too.”

Filling in at the point was sophomore Ava Cunningham. She provided nine points in the loss and handled the ball for a large portion of the game. Spelling Cunningham was fellow sophomore Bitzy Klomp, who scored 10 points for Valley. Coach Toto liked what each of them brought to the table against Woodland.

“Ava took over the ball handling for the most part, but also with Bitzy. Ava has been a point guard for a long time, and she does a really good job bringing the ball up and initiating the offense,” Toto said. “Bitzy came out with fire at the start of the game both defensively and on offense. She was aggressive, and her shot selection was great. Her 10 points came in the first quarter, and they had to adjust to her. She set the tone at the start of the game. They both gave us some good minutes.”

Another major contributor for the Warriors was freshman Lily Grow, who supplied eight points against Woodland.

“On the offensive side, Lily comes in and makes an impact right away, as soon as she steps on the floor. The older girls play solid post defense, but Lily has that offensive edge to her,” said Toto. “I’m excited to see her work in the offseason to get more of that defensive aspect down. She’s going to be a dominant player in the years to come. She has the drive for it, too.”

Freshman Liz Allen also had an impact. She provided a pair of points for the Warriors, but her biggest impact always comes on defense.

“Liz is more of a defensive player. She’s someone that I can put on one of the better players and trust her to get stops. She wasn’t as aggressive on offense against Woodland as she has been recently,” Toto said. “She can have a great career at Valley with a little more offensive consistency. Her and Lily together could be a dynamic duo going through our program.”

In the end, Coach Toto feels that she and her players had a great first year together. The Warriors exceeded expectations for a younger team, and they have the foundations of a perennial contender already there.

“I could not have come into a program with a better group of girls. They all want the best for each other. We had a fair amount of injuries, but I think that having the younger girls get put into this position will help in the coming years,” said Toto. They work so hard for each other, and that’s the kind of culture that we want to see. I don’ think our record showed how tough of a team we really were this year. Next year we’re coming back with a vengeance. We’re already thinking about that, and we’re excited.”

From the Sidelines

The Valley Regional girls’ basketball team’s roster features junior captains Alena Crosby and Addi Marchese; juniors Reagan Brenneman and Libby Cap; sophomores Ava Cunningham, Kaylee Hayes, Bitzy Klomp, Salmi Miller, Madison Sheehan, Hannah Tejedor, and Campbell Toth; and freshmen Liz Allen, Lily Frese, Lily Grow, Brooke Rankin, Siena Schaller, and Sophie Scrivo.

This year marked Jaimie Toto’s first season as Head Coach of the Warriors. Her coaching staff includes JV Head Coach Lauren Budney and Assistant Coach Allyson Pitney.

Valley’s wins during the regular season came against Coginchaug (38-33), Morgan (44-32), Somers (51-26), Haddam-Killingworth (48-46), Old Saybrook (45-37), Westbrook (60-38), North Branford (47-22). The Warriors losses during the regular season were to Old Lyme (41-34), East Hampton (37-30), Amistad (51-45), North Branford (46-43), Cromwell (64-45), Portland (39-36), East Windsor (45-41, OT), Lewis Mills (41-37), Haddam-Killingworth (48-41), Stonington (60-47), Cromwell (62-41, Coginchaug (57-45), and Morgan (61-36).

In the Shoreline Conference Tournament, Valley defeated Westbrook (57-28) in the play-in round, and then lost to Cromwell (38-24) in the quarterfinal.