TORRINGTON: The Torrington girls basketball team is tasked Monday night with beating a team for the third time in a season; never and easy task.
When the Raiders play in the first game of the Naugatuck Valley League semi-finals, being played Monday night at 5:30 at Kennedy High School, the will be looking to do just that when they face off against the St Paul Falcons.
Torrington beat the Falcons 51-47 in their first matchup on January 13 that saw the home team build a double digit lead at one point, only to see the visitors pressure their way back in.
Key buckets down the stretch by Leah Pergola and Rachel Brewer-Karimi, coupled with key free throws by Brianna Murelli and Saturdays opening round hero, Haley Burger gave Torrington the win.
Burger sank two free throws with .5 left on the clock against Woodland to give her team a 52-51 win and a shot at St Paul one more time.
In their second matchup, the Raiders went on the road on February 2 and came away with a 48-40 win behind 14 points from Burger and 13 from Pergola.
The Raiders held St Paul standout Rebecca Kelly to 13-points in their second matchup after her 20-point effort in the game in Torrington.
Torrington led 32-25 at the half in game two and held on during a low scoring second half (16-15 THS).
The finals will be held on Wednesday at Kennedy with the winner of game one talking on the winner of the late game; No 1 seed Holy Cross (17-1) against No 4 Wolcott (13-5).
The Raiders lost to the Crusaders by a 57-45 final in their only meeting this year while splitting with Wolcott (35-33-win, 51-42 loss).
St Paul ended the Crusaders NVL win streak just before losing to Torrington the second time by a 76-71 final.