Heading into the final two weeks of the regular season, coach Ian Anderson set a goal for the Litchfield girls basketball team.
Win four of the last six games, he said, and it should get the Dragons a high seed and a home game or two for the section tournament. Mission accomplished on both fronts.
The Dragons, 11-6 overall, wrapped up the regular season with an impressive 56-35 win over St. James Saturday. It was their third consecutive win and fifth win in their last six games.
And, as Anderson predicted, that run of success pushed Litchfield to the No. 2 seed for the Section 3AA North tournament, which opened Tuesday after this edition of the Independent Review went to press.
The Dragons met seventh-seeded Benson in the opening round on their home court.
“Two weeks ago, when we entered the three-games-a-week phase, we talked about trying to win four or five of the last six to get the two seed for sure and get some momentum,” Anderson said. “So, yes, we’re very happy with how we’re playing right now. And I think everybody’s feeling confident with how we’re playing going into the playoffs.”
Anderson said he thought Litchfield’s schedule down the stretch would serve it well as it entered the playoffs. In the final week of the season, the Dragons beat Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted, Annandale and St. James.
“I think we’re ready as we’re going to be,” Anderson said. “Annandale the other night was a really tough matchup. I think that was good to have that, because they play a different style. They play in-your-face man, which we haven’t seen over the last couple of weeks. But also, it was good to see St. James’ zone, because Benson is going to play a zone, and then, obviously, we hope we’re going to get to see New London’s zone one more time.”
Litchfield’s only loss in the five-of-six closing run was to New London-Spicer, the No. 1 seed in Section 3AA, on March 5. But that 58-49 loss showed the Dragons they could compete, if they get another shot at New London-Spicer, which is undefeated and ranked No. 1 in Class AA.
But Anderson also wanted to avoid getting ahead of himself. If Litchfield got past Benson Tuesday, it would play third-seeded Eden Valley-Watkins or No. 6 Morris Area-Chokio-Alberta at 7 p.m. Friday at Litchfield High School.
Regardless of where the postseason goes, Anderson said that in the age of COVID-19 pandemic, just having a regular season was a blessing.
“I think we’re all grateful,” he said. “I think I can speak on behalf of the team that we’re grateful that we got to play and that we’ve made it through without any real big injury or COVID scares. I hope that continues.
“And I think being 11-6, knowing how tough our conference is, to be five games over .500 is good,” he added. “We talked about finishing third in the conference. We ended fourth, but when you look back at the schedule, we lost to three teams — Glencoe(-Silver Lake), Watertown(-Mayer) and New London(-Spicer). We didn’t lose to anybody else, and those teams are all top 20 teams in the state for our class.”
