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The Greenwich High School girls basketball team kicked off the season in positive, yet rocky fashion on Wednesday night. First game jitters were clear on both sides as the Cardinals overcame numerous turnovers to top Wilton, 45-41.
"I told the girls whatever nervousness they had for the first game, to turn that into confidence and calmness," assistant coach Stephanie Ryan said, filling in for head coach Danielle Morgan, who had a baby two weeks ago. "We just tried to focus on playing one quarter at a time and one minute at a time."
With her team holding onto a slim lead late in the fourth quarter, Caroline Carr hit her fifth three-pointer to give Greenwich a two-score lead. Wilton used four timeouts in the final minute to strategize, but it was all for naught as the Warriors could not find the net.
Both teams had plenty of scoring opportunities in the first half, but neither could capitalize. The Cardinals appeared to try to simply do too much with the ball, and wound up turning the ball over almost a dozen times. Luckily for Greenwich, the Warriors' shots from the field were erratic and rarely found their mark. Wilton stayed in the game thanks to 18 fouls by Greenwich. Wilton fouled 11 times, but five were in the final minute to stop the clock.
The Cardinals got a strong showing in the season opener from Tori Dobson, who scored a game-high 20 points. Kierra King led the team in assists along with eight points and created the most scoring opportunities for Greenwich.
Greenwich is trying to overcome a poor 2009-10 season, in which they finished last in the FCIAC West, going 4-16. Ryan said getting the first win out of the way is a big step for the Cardinals.
"We have high expectations this year," Ryan said. "A lot of times when we were in tight games last year our head would go down. We didn't do that tonight."
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