Trumbull Eagles to play New London for Class LL girls basketball championship

The Trumbull Golden Eagles have landed on the Sun.

Claudia Tucci hit a milestone basket to give her team the lead for good as the top-seeded Golden Eagles punched their ticket to the finals with a 45-38 overtime victory over the No. 5 Mercy Tigers, in the CIAC Class LL semifinals Monday night in Milford.

Trumbull, which is now 26-1, will face No. 3 New London (22-2) for the Class LL championship, and likely for the state’s top ranking, at 6:15 p.m., Saturday, at Mohegan Sun Arena.

Trumbull has just one state championship in program history, with that coming way back in 1974, when the Eagles won, 49-48, over Lee High School in the Class L final. Lee was the original name for what is now Career High School.

The Eagles also reached the Class LL final in 2002, but lost to Norwich Free Academy, 71-42.

Trumbull is a perfect 7-0 in the postseason, having swept three games en route to the FCIAC championship before winning four straight Class LL playoff games.

New London eliminated defending state champion Stamford, 58-56, in the quarterfinals, before topping No. 2 Enfield, 57-36, in Monday’s semis.

“It feels amazing (going to the finals), all this hard work we’ve put in this season really paid off tonight,” Tucci told Bill Bloxsom of the Trumbull Times. “Me, (classmates and fellow captains) Taylor Brown and Victoria Ray have a lot of confidence in this team.”

Mercy rallied from a five-point deficit in the fourth quarter on Monday, tying the game at 35-35 on a three-pointer by Samantha Chapps with 13 seconds remaining.

In OT, the Lions briefly took the lead when Chapps hit two free throws, but Tucci responded with a three-pointer to regain the lead for Trumbull. The points pushed the Trumbull senior past the 1,000-point threshold for her career.

Trumbull then outscored Mercy 7-1 the rest of the way to earn the victory.

For the full story from Bill Bloxsom of the Trumbull Times, click here