Written by Ryan Donovan and Dan Zumpano

Once again the Morgan girls’ basketball team was back in the state tournament after a 15 and 8 record during the regular season. There was plenty of excitement during this season. The Huskies are led by Tori Hopkins and Sarah Thompson, who both averaged more than 10 points per game respectively. They have led the way for some quality victories over teams such as Hyde, Plainfield and the rival H-K. The 12th seeded Huskies have had a magical run through the 2012 state tournament. Their first round match up against Bolton was a hard fought come from behind victory where the Huskies prevailed 50 to 46. The second round was a more dominate performance from star performer Sarah Thompson, who had 15 points, 2 rebounds and 3 steals in the Huskies 49-37 victory of Wamogo Regional. In the quarterfinal the Huskies were placed as underdogs against 4th seeded Cheney Tech. Joe Grippo implemented a full court press defense to rattle point guard Colleen Cosker and Cheney Tech had no answer. Tori Hopkins had 15 points and shot the lights out by hitting 5 of her 8 three point attempts and the Huskies prevailed 51 to 37. With this upset win the Huskies clinched a spot in the semifinals against the top seeded Coginchaug Blue Devils. This is where the Huskies magical run would come to an end, suffering a 52 to 37 loss to Coginchaug on Monday night. “It was a heartbreaking loss, and we had a good run but came up a little short in the end.” said Sarah Thompson, one of the Huskies start performers. “We did not play all that well tonight, but we fought hard until the end. I’m proud of our team. It was a great year, and I’m really going to miss all these girls. We had such a bond with this group, and I’m really going to miss the seniors.” The Huskies end their season with 16 wins and 9 losses. When asked about next season, Thompson said, “We are really looking forward to next season. We have a lot of talent coming back, and we are going to work extra hard next year so that we can get back to this point.” There will be plenty of fireworks hopefully for the 2013 season.