Published in the Daily Hampshire Gazette on Feb. 20, 2015
GRANBY — When Granby senior Meghan Sullivan was an eighth grader on the varsity girls basketball team, the Rams had to win their season finale to make the 2011 postseason. Before this season, coach Tom Burke told his captain history might repeat itself.
There was a lot riding on the last game to the 2014-15 regular season, but not a tournament berth.
With her team riding a 19-game win streak, Sullivan scored 24 points and led the Rams to a 59-50 win over rival Hampshire Regional, which sealed a perfect regular season.
“We were trying actually to not talk about it as we went, but 20-0 is a huge accomplishment,” Sullivan said. “Going 20-0 is as shocking to me as it is to everyone else.”
The win also gave the back-to-back Central League champions 26 straight wins at home.
“This team did it and nobody could tell me that they thought this team was capable of it,” Burke said. “This is so special because this is not my most talented team, there’s no way. But the way these kids play, the effort every single day, practice and in games … they play their hearts out for one another and I’ve never had a team like this, ever. This is a really special group.”
Granby qualified for the postseason on Jan. 16, with a win over the Raiders (17-5, 5-3) at the Hoophall Classic. Both sides will learn their postseason fate when seeds are announced on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at the Basketball Hall of Fame.
“I want to congratulate Tom Burke and his team on a 20-0 season. That’s a fantastic accomplishment,” Hampshire coach Rich Moussette said. “I think it’s a testament to his coaching and his kids. It’s very, very nice to see that happen.”
Granby’s win streak looked bleak at the beginning of the season as only Sullivan, her sister, Kate, and Kate Sarnacki, both sophomores, had played major minutes from last season. Burke filled out his roster with two eighth graders, two freshmen and another senior, topping out at nine bodies total.
“I was very concerned,” Burke said. “I told Meg, we talked before the season that it might be like her eighth grade year, when we got in the last game of the year. … That’s how I felt. We’ve got a couple eighth graders, couple ninth graders. Who knew? It is special.”
The Rams stayed healthy and escaped a few close games this season while avoiding foul trouble with a short bench. According to Meghan Sullivan and Burke, teamwork is what got them to this point and what clinched their 20th win.
“That’s a great team, but I think today, we really played as a team,” Meghan Sullivan said. “Everyone was scoring, everyone was making defensive plays. There wasn’t one person that didn’t contribute in whatever way they could on the floor. It was all-around a team win.”
The two sides traded baskets through the first quarter, with Hampshire edging out to a 14-12 lead after 8 minutes.
The Raiders pushed it to 20-14 on a floater by Lauren Aldrich (11 points) with 4:43 left in the first half, but it became their last bucket until the opening shot of the second half.
Kate Sullivan (15 points) followed Aldrich’s shot with a deep jumper that triggered a 15-0 Rams run to close the second quarter. Meghan Sullivan had seven of the 15 points, but four Rams scored on the run.
Granby maintained its 9-point lead, give or take a bucket, until late in the third quarter. A 7-1 Raiders run cut it to 39-36 with 2:33 on the clock. The Sullivan sisters hit back-to-back shots and sent the Rams on another run to close the quarter leading 47-38.
Before a bucket was made in the fourth quarter, Hampshire’s leading scorer and rebounder Katy O’Connor fouled out with 7:31 to go. Paige Sullivan gave the Raiders a glimpse of life with a deep 3-pointer.
It was momentary, however, as Sarnacki (14 points) hit a floater and then a breakaway layup that was dished off by Meghan Sullivan after a scramble midcourt with Hampshire’s Chelsea Moussette. That made the score 51-41 lead with 5:53 to go.
“That (play) defines what this team is really all about and the heart that Meg Sullivan (has). It’s great when your best player is your hardest work and gets on the floor,” Burke said. “These kids follow her lead. That senior leadership has really taken over. They know they have to play like her. … They really give it their all.”
Aldrich hit a layup, and after a scoreless 1:38, Katelyn Pickunka did the same to pull the Raiders to within 53-47.
Nicole Buzzee (10 points) hit a 3 from the right wing to make it 55-50 with 13.9 to go, but Meghan Sullivan went 4 for 4 from the line in the final seconds to seal the win.
“I’ve never been more proud of a team,” Burke said. “These kids are capable of so much because of the way they play.”