By Andy Hutchison

WESTPORT–The host and No 2 seed Staples girls basketball team took on a very familiar foe on Saturday afternoon. Staples toppled the visiting Ridgefield Tigers, 52-36, in the first round of the FCIAC Tournament.

Staples had defeated Ridgefield in the regular-season finale 54-44 on Wednesday and appeared headed for a potentially close finish in the rematch, after the Tigers hung around through three quarters of play.

Staples led 30-25 at the half and held a 39-31 advantage going to the fourth. Emma Asiel‘s early fourth-quarter basket stretched the lead to double digits and the Wreckers pulled away late.

“We started executing the things we wanted to accomplish, and it made the game a lot easier for us,” said Wrecker Coach Tommy Sparks, referring to defensive assignments and plays on offense.

The Staples defense held Ridgefield to just eleven second-half points to stretch its lead.

On offense, Asiel and Freya Harvey both scored 11, Chloe Smith had nine and Addie Talbott seven.

Harvey handed out five assists, had four rebounds and came away with a trio of steals. Smith logged seven rebounds, three steals and three blocks. Talbott had three assists, eight rebounds and three steals.

Marley Belzer had five points, two assists, three blocks, five rebounds and a pair of steals. Sadie Katzner tacked on five points, two assists and a steal.

The Wreckers will take on No. 6 Stamford in Monday’s semifinals at neutral site Fairfield Ludlowe at 5 p.m. No. 1 Greenwich and No. 5 Fairfield Warde square off in the other semi, also at Ludlowe, at 7.

Andy Hutchison

^{_{Andy Hutchison has been covering school sports — including Staples athletics — as well as news and feature stories, since the 1990s. He is the sports editor at the Newtown Bee. He writes for the Monroe Sun. He was director of communications and radio color commentator for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers (now Islanders) hockey team. He has won numerous writing awards, including regional and national first-place honors.}}