KEVIN D. ROBERTS/Register Citizen

The No. 5 Torrington girls basketball team's season ended on Thursday night with a 58-47 loss to No. 4 Berlin in a Class L state quarterfinal at Berlin High School. The Lady Raiders finish the season at 20-5. The Redcoats (20-4) face top-seeded E.O. Smith in a semifinal next Monday night at 7:45 at Hartford's Bulkeley High School.
Here are some final thoughts from the game:

BERLIN

• The Redcoats got off to a very slow start and trailed 5-0 midway through the first quarter. Berlin, however, was able to rally and take a 9-7 lead after one quarter.
• Berlin put together a big second quarter (17-5) where it held Torrington to just two baskets. Paige Young had five points in the quarter for the Redcoats, or as much as the entire Raider team.
• The Redcoats were able to withstand a Raider push in the fourth quarter. Torrington cut Berlin's lead to six at 50-44 with 1:28 to play in the game, but Deanna Barrett's three-point play put the final nail in the game for the Redcoats.
• Berlin had balance in its story. Kailene Rampone had 15 points, all in the second half, while teammate Courtney Trzasko added 15 of her own. Chelsea Vujs finished with 10 points, Paige Young added seven points while Barrett chipped in six. 

TORRINGTON

• Torrington played the game without sophomore point guard Caroline Teti. Teti broke her left wrist in last Friday's Class L second round win over Daniel Hand.
• Foul trouble sidelined Lady Raider senior leader Aly Otis for much of the first half. Otis picked up her second foul 1:38 into the first quarter. Torrington led 3-0 at the time, but without Otis on the offensive end and underneath cleaning up the boards, the Raiders were in trouble.
• In spite of her early foul trouble, Otis played big down the stretch. She had 12 second half points, including 10 in the fourth quarter. Otis led the team with 14 points, plus eight rebounds and two steals in her final game as a Raider.
• Torrington struggled throughout the first half, scoring just 12 points. The Raiders had five in the second quarter after scoring seven in the first. THS had 15 turnovers in the half. They had eight in the first quarter and seven in the second.
• The Raiders picked it up in the third quarter, scoring 15 points, three more than they had in the entire first half.
• Torrington never stopped fighting, despite being down as much as 20 points with 4:11 left in the third quarter. The Raiders cut the Redcoat lead to 50-44 with 1:28 left to play, but a key three-point play by Berlin's Deanna Barrett helped put the game away.
• Senior center Caycee Williams struggled early, but scored six of her eight points in the second half, including four in the fourth quarter as THS rallied.
• Senior guard Mariah Cerruto fouled out with 3:52 left in the fourth quarter. The Raiders were already playing without Teti, and losing Cerruto didn't help. Torrington was down 10 at the time, 45-35, and got as close as six at 50-44, but couldn't close the gap any further.
• Torrington's senior class put together a successful season that included the second best record in the Naugatuck Valley League (17-2), a runner-up finish in the NVL tournament, and an appearance in the Class L state quarterfinal. The Raiders graduate Otis, Williams, Cerruto, Emily Eanniello, Mollie Bartles, Dia O'Brien and Morgan Thulin.

- Kevin D. Roberts