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March Madness isn't confined to college or high school basketball. Matchups in the Fairfield County Basketball League can be equally thrilling.
The Fairfield PAL eighth-grade girls rallied from 10 points down in the fourth quarter Saturday to stun Norwalk GBA Black, 34-33, at Weston High School in a B bracket game. Fairfield (16-4-1) plays either Bridgeport or Newtown Sunday at Joseph High School at 12:45 in the semifinals.
Jackie Brewster scored 13 points, including seven in the fourth quarter, to lead Fairfield. Katie Gardella added 10.
"I was concerned when we got behind in the fourth quarter, but the girls did a great job,'' Fairfield PAL coach T.J. Lanese said. "It was a great team effort."
Norwalk led 33-23 with five minutes to play before Fairfield started its comeback. Brewster scored on three successive trips down the floor to narrow the gap to 33-32 with 2:24 left. Fairfield took the lead with 55 seconds left on basket by Gardella. After a Norwalk turnover, Fairfield missed the front end of a one-and-one, but retained possession when Norwalk couldn't control the rebound. Norwalk forced a turnover and had one more chance at the go-ahead basket. Norwalk called timeout with 7.2 seconds left, but turned the ball over on an inbounds play.
Norwalk (14-12) took control in the third quarter after the teams played to an 18-18 tie at halftime. Norwalk built a 23-18 lead with 3:19 left in the third period and was up 29-23 entering the fourth.
"There's a lot of good teams in the league and we have a shot at winning it,'' Lanese said. "We expect to see Norwalk back in the championship game."
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