It has been a very good year thus far for FCIAC girls’ basketball and there are four big conference showdowns looming in the next couple weeks to determine how the higher seedings will shake out for the 2025 FCIAC Girls Basketball Tournament which commences Feb. 22.
The Greenwich Cardinals, guided by coach Megan Wax, were still known as the unbeaten Greenwich Cardinals going into this week after they rode the team bus back home on Jan. 31 after their Friday night 59-31 victory at Danbury.
That improved them to 14-0 overall with a conference record of 9-0.
The Cardinals still have all three games remaining against their three closest pursuers in the FCIAC standings, and this week is a huge week for them and the other contenders for the highest seeds.
Greenwich had a one-game lead over Fairfield Warde and Ridgefield in the FCIAC standings through Feb. 1. Warde (12-2 overall) and Ridgefield (10-4) remained tied for second place after they both improved to 8-1 in the FCIAC with victories at the end of last week.
Stamford had a 12-2 overall record and was in fourth place in the FCIAC at 7-2.
Defending FCIAC champion St. Joseph (8-5 overall) and Staples (7-7) both had 6-3 records in the FCIAC and were tied for fourth place. The three teams with 5-4 conference records who were in a three-way tie for seventh place were Fairfield Ludlowe (9-5 overall), Trumbull (8-6), and New Canaan (6-8). Danbury was 4-5 in the FCIAC, in 10th place, and 8-6 overall. Brien McMahon (7-6 overall, 3-6 FCIAC) Wilton (4-9, 3-6) were tied for 11th place in the FCIAC.
The records of the other four teams in the FCIAC as of Feb. 1, with the overall records followed by the conference records in parenthesis, were: Bridgeport Central (5-8, 1-8), Darien (5-9, 1-8), Westhill (2-12, 1-8), and Norwalk (0-14, 0-9).
A dozen FCIAC teams had played 14 games as of Jan. 31, the other four had played 13, and all 16 conference teams had played nine conference games.
Going into the Tuesday games on Feb. 4, there would be just 16 more days left in the regular season, scheduled to conclude Feb. 19.
Greenwich is involved in those three showdowns against their closest pursuers in the FCIAC and the first two of them occur within four days of each other this week – on Feb. 4 and Feb. 7.
Greenwich will travel to play fourth-place Stamford on Feb. 4, followed by hosting second-place Ridgefield on Feb. 7. The other team tied for second place, Fairfield Warde, will host Greenwich on Feb. 17.
Another big game occurs Feb. 11 when Fairfield Warde plays at Stamford.
Ridgefield is the only team that has already played two teams among the current top four in the FCIAC. The Tigers were home in both of those games – posting a 43-37 victory over Stamford on Jan. 17 and four days later they lost to Fairfield Warde, 54-49, on Jan. 21.
So, there are those four showdowns forthcoming among the top four teams and there are many more games pitting the conference’s top four teams against several other teams in FCIAC playoff contention.
The FCIAC had three teams ranked among the top nine in the latest GameTimeCT Top 10 Girls Basketball Poll was was released Jan. 28. Greenwich was ranked No. 4. Stamford was ranked seventh and Fairfield Warde was ninth.