UNCASVILLE—Three years, 43 wins and now, finally, a state championship for the Holy Cross girls basketball team.
No. 1 seeded Holy Cross led wire-to-wire, rolling to a 61-38 win over No. 2 Bacon Academy in the CIAC Class M championship game at Mohegan Sun Arena Sunday, completing an unbeaten season at 27-0.
Holy Cross, tied atop the GameTimeCT poll with Notre Dame-Fairfield, is the only unbeaten team in the state and has not lost in its last 43 games going back to the 2020 regular season.
It is the second state title for the Crusaders whose only other title came in 2007 in Class M.
“It feels amazing. It’s what we were dreaming of doing and we accomplished it. It’s the best feeling ever,” Holy Cross junior guard Mya Zaccagnini said. “We played great defense and we held them to zero points the first half of the first quarter and we kept going. That carried over to our offense and we got it done.”
Zaccagnini had 20 points with senior Cayla Howard adding 16 and Nyasia Smith scoring 14 points to go along with 12 rebounds.
Holy Cross jumped on Bacon right away, going up 8-0, leading 19-8 after one and 32-17 at halftime.
Bacon would not close the gap, turning the ball over 26 times, with Holy Cross scoring 21 points off those turnovers.
Marissa Nudd paced Bacon with 15 points.
“I think our pressure hurt them. We play a lot of kids and picking them up full court and making (Valerie Luizzi) use a lot of energy from baseline-to-baseline got them a little tired towards the end of that first quarter,” Holy Cross coach Frank Lombardo said. “This is a special group of seniors. Everyone knows two years ago we were in the state semifinals when it was cut short because of the pandemic. Last year, we were undefeated but there was no state tournament. It was not enough for us to make it. We were coming her to win the game.”
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Mya Zaccagnini, Holy Cross: On the final shot she took in the game, a long jumper from the left corner, Zaccagnini scored her 1,000th career point. Zaccagnini is now a multi-sport state champion, having also won two state titles with the Holy Cross girls soccer team, including one this past fall.
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“Today was how we played all season. We played defense like that every game this year,” Zaccagnini said. “It’s how we win our games and what pushes our offense. That’s how we won and that’s how we stayed undefeated. We kept on pushing. This was our dream and we accomplished our dream.”
Sericson@stamfordadvocate.com; @EricsonSports
HOLY CROSS 61, BACON ACADEMY 38
BACON ACADEMY 8 9 8 13 — 38
HOLY CROSS 19 13 12 17 — 61
BACON ACADEMY
Emily Ferrigno 2 0 0 4; Valerie Luizzi 1 3 6 5; Marissa Nudd 3 9 12 15; Cara Shea 4 2 4 11; Emma Mancuso 1 0 0 3; Katelyn Novak 0 0 0 0; Elizabeth Glover 0 0 0 0; Olivia Tellar 0 0 0 0; Grace Saldana 0 0 0 0; Ariel Nair 0 0 0 0; Veronica Smith 0 0 0 0.
Totals: 11 15 24 38.
HOLY CROSS
Mya Zaccagnini 9 1 2 20; Nyasia Smith 6 2 2 14; Atkins 0 0 0 0; Cayla Howard 6 3 4 16; Kristina Perry 3 0 0 6; Loren Tuck 0 0 0 0; Shania Howard (5) 1 1 2 3; Madelyn Neibel 0 0 0 0; Rachel Healey 0 0 0 0; Nadia Pelosi 0 0 0 0; Isabella Lombardo 1 0 0 2; Ava Purcaro 0 0 0 0; Isabella Oliver 0 0 0 0; Lariyah Booker 0 0 0 0.
Totals: 26 7 10 61
3-point field goals: Holy Cross: Zaccagnini, C. Howard. Bacon Academy: Shea
Records: Holy Cross 29-0, Bacon Academy 23-4
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Zaccagnini leads Holy Cross girls basketball to Class M title over Bacon Academy - CT Insider
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