Surging Bellringers Take Care of Lady T-Birds

East Hampton overpowered undersized North Branford, 48-33, Saturday night at North Branford High School, dropping the Lady T-Birds to their sixth-straight loss.

Kelsey Booth had a monster game for the Bellringers (12-2), scoring 27 points, four rebounds and two steals. Sarah Denihan added 10 points and seven steals for East Hampton, for whom the win was the 10th straight.

Bellringers' Head Coach Shaun Russell credited his top scorers with taking control of the game early.

“Denihan has been getting better and better every day, all year. It is really starting to show. She is playing very confidently, with a lot of energy,” he said. “Booth has been very consistent. She can score it inside, she can score it outside. We are doing the best we can to get her into favorable matchups. The two of them played big tonight.”

North Branford (3-11) was led by Elyssa Barreto, who notched 15 points, 11 of which were in the second half. Jessica Sola and Ashley Arre each added five for the T-Birds.

North Branford head coach Chris Webster was disappointed in the loss but blamed North Branford's poor play on a slew of injuries this season.

“We started with seven kids in the book, and I added two freshmen. We have no subs,” Webster said. “We lost our point guard … we lost another captain with three concussions, we lost another captain with an ACL [tear] and another kid with a meniscus [tear]. We have had seven or eight serious injuries this year. It's just been a struggle.”

Booth's size proved to be a big problem in the paint for North Branford, especially in the second half, when she was on the receiving end of several easy layups.

“I think we were able to get some isolations where we wanted and play some things to our advantage there. What led to that was really good ball movement,” Russell said. “We were able to get some favorable one-on-one matchups in the paint, which was good for us.”

East Hampton never trailed, and led by 13 at halftime.

“I was really pleased with the shot selection all night,” Russell said. “We missed some shots we could make, but we could live with that.”

Despite the injuries, Webster was frustrated with the streaky play from her team.

“We still can't do enough to win the game. We play in bursts,” Webster said. “We played pretty well for a couple minutes, and we stink up the floor and let them get ahead.”

The Lady T-Birds cut the lead to 10 midway through the third quarter, but that would be the closest margin for the remainder of the game.

Webster added, “We are doing the best we can.”

East Hampton jumped out to an early lead, shocking North Branford with fast breaks and basket-to-basket play, something the shorthanded T-Birds were not able to stop.

North Branford's next game is in Deep River, where they play Valley Regional on Monday at 7 p.m.