The 5th grade girls played a nail biter against Norwalk on Sunday. New Canaan had a strong defensive 1st quarter. Norwalk scored the first two baskets of the game, but New Canaan played tough. Claire Pittaro and Quinn McKiernan battled under the boards to grab several rebounds. Cameron Murphy and Elizabeth St. George forced turnovers from Norwalk as did McKiernan and Marlee Smith. Olivia West and Holly Knight also played strong defensively. Quinn McKiernan scored both baskets in the quarter ending the period with New Canaan 4 and Norwalk 7.
Olivia West started the second quarter with a steal. West, Eleanor Lapin, Emma Gibbens and Quinn McKiernan showed great New Canaan ball handling. They had several good looks and passes under the basket, but just couldn’t score. Then New Canaan turned up their game at the end of the second quarter. Brynne Harris rejected a Norwalk shot on goal and Quinn McKiernan fought for rebounds and stole the ball from a Norwalk opponent. Claire Pittaro scored a basket and both Emma Gibbens and Olivia West scored points off of foul shots. The half ended with New Canaan 9 and Norwalk 13.
New Canaan closed the gap in the 3rd quarter by holding Norwalk to just one basket because of great defense from Eleanor Lapin and Brynne Harris and steals from Quinn McKiernan and Cameron Murphy. McKiernan scored 2 points by converting both of her foul shots. Olivia West and Claire Pittaro were strong on rebounding. Also, Pittaro scored toward the end of the quarter bringing New Canaan to within one basket of Norwalk (13-15).
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New Canaan’s strong defense continued in the fourth quarter from Olivia West and Emma Gibbens. Brynne Harris stole the ball from Norwalk and Quinn McKiernan pulled down a key rebound. Emma Gibbens scored on the next play which tied the game (15-15). Scoring went back and forth between the two teams. Strong rebounds from Emma Gibbens and Claire Pittaro kept New Canaan in the game. Elizabeth St. George had a Norwalk steal and then scored two points for New Canaan. Quinn McKiernan also scored two points on foul shots. Then with less than a minute left in the game, Eleanor Lapin dribbled the ball outside and put up an incredible 2 point shot putting New Canaan one point behind Norwalk. New Canaan would have another scoring opportunity within the last few seconds of the game, but just couldn’t get the basket. The final score was New Canaan 21, Norwalk 22.
