WEST HARTFORD - Their freshman year, the Northwest Catholic girls basketball team seniors didn't even make it to the CCC tournament. The Lions were the 17th seed and stayed home and prepped and practiced and then went out and won the Class S state title.
Two years ago, they made it to the CCC tournament final but lost to Windsor. Then they won another state title.
Last year, they fell to eventual CCC champion Southington in the semifinals. But won their third state title.
This year was it for the three senior captains - Maeve Staunton, who will play soccer at UConn; Abigail Casper, who broke the all-time school scoring in the CCC semifinal and Zoey Canning - to win a conference title.
And they finally did Monday night, beating Rocky Hill 72-34 for the CCC tournament championship at the University of Hartford.
Staunton led top-seeded Northwest Catholic (23-1) with 24 points and Casper had 14 while Canning had nine.
"Freshman year we didn't even make the tournament," Staunton said. "We spoke of this for four years and for it to come to fruition is crazy. We finally got it. It's good but we're ready for states and we want that state championship."
Casper, who will play at Holy Cross next year, had already broken the girls scoring record earlier in the season and on Saturday, she broke the record for both boys and girls in a 57-48 win over East Catholic in the CCC semifinals, breaking Matt Curtis' record of 1,911 points from 2022.
"It was good for me, but I wanted to get it for our team to get it back, the all-time scoring record, to the girls program," said Casper, who has 1,935 points after Monday. "That was my main goal. I was happy to be able to do that. It shows all the hard work I put in for myself."
Monday, she was happy to win a conference championship - finally. The last three years, the losses in the conference tournament (or not making it) served as motivation for the Lions' post-season run.
"It did serve as fuel knowing we don't want to lose again," Casper said. "But this year, too, after winning this - we want to win another state championship. This is great but that's where it's at. That's the big deal.
"After this, we'll enjoy it for a couple days but it's right back to work again to get that fourth state title."
Northwest Catholic won titles in Class MM and Class L last year. This year, the Lions are the top seed in Division I and will play their first game against Conard March 9.
Northwest dominated from the tip, racing to a 17-9 lead after one quarter and 40-13 at halftime.
"Our defense really showed up - that's what we hang our hat on," Staunton said. "When our defense is good like that, there's not much you can do to stop us."
Coach Alison Connors was happy for her seniors.
"It's a full circle moment for these seniors," she said. "Their freshman year they didn't even make it. We were 17th in the CCC. We lost on a tiebreaker.
"I'm so excited for them. This was one of their big boxes to check off during the season."