The No. 5 Torrington girls basketball team now knows its opponent for Friday night's  Class L second round game at the Connie Donahue Gymnasium.
The Lady Raiders will face No. 12 Daniel Hand (Madison) at 7 p.m. The Tigers defeated No. 21 Bunnell 72-62 in a first round game on Tuesday night in Madison. Hand 6'0" senior forward Kelsey Cuddy had 23 points, 12 rebounds, 4 steals and 2 blocks. Kara McHugh added 17 points and Hannah Johnson scored 12 for the Tigers.
Bunnell was led by 6'0" senior center Shaquira Palmer, who had a monster game with 24 points, 21 rebounds, 10 blocks and 4 steals
Bulldogs head coach Marvin Tyson had this to say about Cuddy when he spoke to the New Haven Register's Chris Hunn after the game.
"Shaquira is a little more athletic, but Cuddy is a tremendously hard worker," Tyson said. "She got a hand on a lot of loose balls, kept second chances alive for them, just relentless. Both are all-state players."

- Kevin D. Roberts


By Chris Hunn
New Haven Register
MADISON — Tuesday’s game between Bunnell and Hand featured a pair of the top talents in the Class L state tournament field.
On one end there was Shaquira Palmer. On the other, was Kelsey Cuddy. Both versatile 6-foot seniors. The matchup lived up to the hype, but Cuddy had a little more help.
No. 12 Hand advanced to the second-round with a 72-62 win over No. 21 Bunnell. It was the Tigers’ sixth straight opening-round victory in the state tournament and now they will travel to face No. 5 Torrington on Friday at 7 p.m.
"They are almost mirror images of each other," Hand coach Tim Tredwell said. "It was kind of odd. I told the kids beforehand, they have another version of Cuddy. She’s very similar. She’s tough. She lived up to the billing. But I think player-for-player, we were a little deeper than them."
Palmer scored a game-high 24 points to go along with 21 rebounds, 10 blocks and four steals for the Bulldogs. Cuddy finished with 23 points, 12 rebounds, four steals and two blocks for the Tigers.
"She’s a really great player," said Cuddy about Palmer. "She can go to the hole really strong. We haven’t played anyone, besides Bria Holmes, that’s like her."
"Shaquira is a little more athletic, but Cuddy is a tremendously hard worker," Bunnell coach Marvin Tyson said. "She got a hand on a lot of loose balls, kept second chances alive for them, just relentless. Both are all-state players."
Kara McHugh added 17 points and Hannah Johnson chipped in with 12 for Hand. The Tigers opened the second half with a 20-6 run and shot 22-of-28 from the foul line, which proved to be the difference. Bunnell got as close as eight points with under 1 minute to go.
"Sixty is a great number for us," Tyson said. But giving up 70 isn’t. We can’t win giving up that many points."

BOX SCORE

No. 12 Daniel Hand 72, No. 21 Bunnell 62
At Daniel Hand, Madison
Bunnell 14 10 11 27 — 62
Hand 11 16 24 21 — 72
BUNNELL (62): Jess Bogdwicz 5 5-7 16, Shaquira Palmer 8 8-10 24, Lauren Kostopolus 4 0-0 10, Kelly Benson 2 3-4 7, Erin Koletar 1 0-0 2, Deja Fonsecca 1 1-2 3. Totals: 21 17-23 62.
HAND (72): Kelsey Cuddy 5 12-15 23, Kara McHugh 4 7-9 17, Jackie Strickland 4 1-2 9, Graceann Kraemer 0 2-2 2, Hannah Johnson 6 0-0 12, Lily Taylor 2 0-0 5, Cassidy Wygonik 2 0-0 4. Totals: 23 22-28 72.
3-point goals: Bunnell 3 (Bogdwicz 1, Kostopolus 2); Hand 4 (Cuddy 1, McHugh 2, Taylor 1).
Records: Bunnell 10-12; Hand 14-8Hunn is the girls basketball reporter for the Register and covered Tuesday night's game. His story is below, along with the box.