Athlete of the Week: Maggie Connolly

Sophomore Maggie Connolly clips her piece of the net after Ursuline downed Sanford 39-34 for the Raiders’ 16th state title in the DIAA Girls Basketball Tournament on Friday at the Bob Carpenter Center.

MAGGIE CONNOLLY, sophomore, Ursuline basketball

THE WEEK: Led the team with 12 points as Ursuline won its 16th state title with a 39-34 victory over Sanford in the championship game of the DIAA Girls Basketball Tournament last Friday. Also scored nine points in the Raiders’ 40-35 semifinal win over Concord on Wednesday.

THE FREE THROWS: Ursuline led by 11 points going into the fourth quarter, but Sanford cut the lead to one with 28.4 seconds to play. Connolly went to the line three times and hit six consecutive foul shots to seal the championship. “I was just excited to get to the line, and we’ve been practicing a lot this week,” she said. “My teammates were really encouraging, and I just had to focus and block the noise out.”

THE ROUTINE: “I always do the same routine,” Connolly said. “I try not to look at the basket, it kind of throws me off a little. I just kind of try to go right into it off of muscle memory.”

THE COMPOSURE: “She has the three Cs. She’s calm, she’s cool, and she’s collected,” Ursuline coach John Noonan said. “That was in evidence tonight with the free throws down the stretch.”

THE STRATEGY: Noonan said the Raiders wanted to get the ball to Connolly each time, because she had hit 84 percent of her free throws this season. “We thought maybe they would play it out and try to turn us over, but they went right after the foul,” the coach said. “Clearly, she’s the one we want on the line. She’s money.”

THE REPEAT: Ursuline also won the state title last year, and was able to repeat following the graduation of three-time Delaware Player of the Year Adrianna Hahn, who is now playing at Villanova. “There was definitely a lot of doubt that we wouldn’t be able to come back and that we were so young and inexperienced,” Connolly said. “I think we worked really hard for it, and it just feels amazing.”

THE CLASSROOM: Connolly said her favorite subject is Math. “It always has an answer, and you can work it out yourself,” she said.

THE FUTURE: Connolly has two years remaining at Ursuline, then hopes to continue her basketball career in college. “That’s the goal now, so I’ll just keep working toward it, working hard every day,” she said.

Send Athlete of the Week nominations to bmyers@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter: @BradMyersTNJ