Staples Girls Basketball Defeats Wilton 56-37

In their last home game of the year Friday, Lady Wreckers' senior guard Chelsea Salamone went out with a bang as she erupted 19 points leading the Staples girls basketball team to an easy 56-37 victory over the Wilton Warriors.

The starting point guard shined on Senior Night by shooting a perfect seven out of seven from the field and four-for-four from the free throw line.  Salamone's stellar performance helped the Lady Wreckers improve their overall record to 12-5 and 11-4 in the FCIAC.  

Despite the 19-point win, the game was close in the beginning when the Lady Wreckers ended the first quarter with just a four-point lead. As they have all season long, the Lady Wreckers thrived on the defensive end. Staples made a complete turn around in the second quarter by holding Wilton to just four points in the quarter. Junior Nicole Brill and sophomore Remy Nolan lead an under-sized Wrecker defense as the two of them kept Wilton from entering the lane. Each player was key in the Lady Wreckers victory with Nolan taking away six steals and Brill scoring seven points, pulling down 10 rebounds and dishing out six assists. The strong defense translated into a 16-4 Wrecker surge that put the home team up 33-15 at the half.

Going into the third quarter with an 18-point lead, the Lady Wreckers began to try their luck from downtown. Senior guard Suvi Puripatarrpan drilled two threes in the quarter as the senior finally got into the act for the Lady Wreckers. Despite Puripatarrpan's strong effort, the Lady Wreckers were held to just eight points in the quarter thanks in part to strong defensive effort from Wilton. However, the Warriors could find no such luck on the offensive side of the floor, scoring just 11 points in the quarter, leaving the visiting team down by 15 entering the final period.

While the Warriors finally found some offense in the post with center Maddy Fulton, there was no stopping Staples. The Lady Wreckers continued to find open shots from the outside and did not let them go to waste with junior Jaclyn Katz, senior Tory Dodge and Salamone hitting big buckets down the stretch to keep Wilton out of the game. Sophomore Jessie Ambrose put the icing on the cake at the end of the game by scoring five points in her lone minute of action.

With the win, Staples solidifies their position as the 5th best team in the FCIAC and closes the gap between themselves and second place Stamford to two games. Now with just three games left in the regular season, the Lady Wreckers are on the fast track to one of the top seeds in the FCIAC tournament with meetings against Fairfield Ludlowe and Greenwich remaining.

These two games will lead the Lady Wreckers for their final regular season game against the top-seeded St. Joe's Cadets. Despite being ahead of the 6th place Danbury Cadets by two games with three to play, the Lady Wreckers will need at lead two wins to avoid missing the FCIAC playoffs.