Written By Ashlyn Chidsey |

This year has been one for the books for the Morgan Girls’ Basketball team. Coach Joe Grippo has been coaching basketball here at Morgan for over 30 years, and this is the first year the Lady Huskies were undefeated during the regular season. The team also followed up with a nail biting 53-52 win in overtime against Cromwell for the Shoreline Conference Championship.

The team has been dominating all season long, beating teams at an average of 33 points a game. Along with those accomplishments, the team has also had 3 players score their 1,000th point this year:  seniors Jen Dawson and Tori Hopkins and junior Sami Ashton. Grippo is pleased with his team at this point of the season and gives them props for the hard work they provide. “Nobody cares about their individual stats, all of the players work as a team to get the wins.”

This year’s starters, seniors Jen Dawson, Tori Hopkins, and Kelsey Donaldson and juniors Sami Ashton and Josie Sullivan all started last year as well which can have a great impact towards success for a basketball team. Kelsey says, “We have all of our returning 5 from last year so we know each other well and are able to play to each other’s strengths and weaknesses.”

The girls were going into the Shoreline Championship knowing that they had some unfinished business. Cromwell, the shoreline champions for the past two years, is a highly competitive team, and the Lady Huskies knew that it was going to be a good game, but the results were rewarding. Jen shares her excitement after the game, “It was a great feeling especially because we beat the team we lost to the past two years.”

The girls are continuing their run through the state tournament as well. They have beaten Platt Tech, Plainfield, and East Hampton and will be playing on Monday, March 16th against their biggest competitor, Cromwell in the semi-final round at Sheehan High School. The past 3 years Morgan has faced Cromwell 10 times, currently holding a record of 5-5 against each other. Grippo shares that it is going to be a difficult road to get to the state championship game at Mohegan Sun, but he is confident in his team that it can be done.

For more information on the team last year, read an article about the recap of their last season: Run to the Sun