By Roger Cleaveland,Staff Writer / CT Insider

Once again, a game had heartbreak written all over it for the Eastern Connecticut women's basketball team early this season as the Warriors played at the Oneonta & Hartwick holiday tournament.

They led by as many as seven points in the third quarter, but in the waning seconds, found themselves trailing by two, and host Hartwick had the ball.

After falling short in a couple comeback attempts during their 0-4 start to the season, the Eastern players were determined to change their fortunes. Tremendous defensive effort gave them a glimmer of hope as they forced a turnover with 1.2 seconds to play.

Still, they had to inbound the ball near midcourt.

First-year Eastern coach Mandy King drew up a play in which freshman Maddie Topa would screen for her classmate Kat Novak, who would hopefully draw enough attention to allow her to make a touch pass toward the post to get someone a shot.

When Topa set the screen, however, her defender followed Novak trying to deny her the ball. That left Topa wide open 35 feet from the basket. Sophomore point guard Liv Cassesse inbounded to Topa, who took one big dribble toward the top of the key and pulled up to sink the game-winning 3-pointer.

"Oh my God, it was unreal," King said. "In my 23 years of coaching, I had never been part of a winner at the buzzer like that. It was unbelievable, a moment that is probably going to be something that helps Maddie dream really big, not only for herself, but for our team.

"It was one of those games that is not only going to define this season because of the confidence it gave us, but it will define our trajectory during Maddie's career, and also what she is going to be able to accomplish. I will never forget it as long as I live."

And so began Maddie Topa's journey as a starter in college basketball. The 5-foot-8 freshman wing from New Hartford and Northwestern Regional had come off the bench during the team's 0-4 start. The Hartwick game was her first opportunity to start, and she made the most of it.

In the six games she has started, Eastern is 4-2, and Topa has won back-to-back Little East Conference Rookie of the Week honors.

"I think in the beginning of the year it took me a little bit of time to get adjusted," Topa said. "Obviously, the college game is a lot faster and a lot more physical. The biggest thing was just trying to find my role. I was trying to do whatever I could to help the team. I'm glad my coaches have the confidence in me to move me into the starting lineup."

King said Topa's humility makes her the perfect teammate, someone who as a freshman can come into a program and command respect immediately.

Topa had an outstanding high school career at Northwestern where she not only set the school scoring records for a game (48), season (647) and career (2,243) but also established herself as the eighth-leading girls basketball scorer in state history.

She started her first college season slowly, scoring a combined 14 points in her first three games and not playing more than 18 minutes off the bench in any of the first four games. King could see the potential in Topa, however, and decided to start her against Hartwick.

In her first three starts combined, she shot only 26.1% from the field. In the last three, however, she has shot 45.7%.

"I was just kind of getting settled into everything, kind of letting the game come to me and not trying to force anything," Topa said. "I think my confidence has definitely gotten higher as the season has gone on. I see myself doing well, so I am just continuing to take shots when I am open and continuing to make good decisions."

Assistant coach Ken Valliere told Topa that she needed to attack the basket more, because she is capable of getting to the rim anytime she wants. Once she started doing that, it buoyed her confidence and unlocked the potential of the team's offense, because she is a very good passer, as well.

"Expectations were really high for Maddie," King said. "She is a very unselfish kid. At one point I said to her, 'Listen, Maddie, we believe you are too great to blend in.' In practice, we thought there were times she could be more aggressive and that she could do more than even she thought she could.

"We just pushed her to a place where she would be capable of doing what we already knew she could do. For as much success as she had in high school, I don't know that she could even see what we could see for her at this level. Now that she sees it, I think she will get hungrier to help us be successful and give us a shot to be a contender as early as this year."

Topa is only averaging 8.2 points per game (third on the team), but she has scored in double figures in five of her last seven games and went into the holiday break by posting her first double-double of the season with 13 points and 12 rebounds against Bridgewater State.

"I definitely think the ball is going in when I shoot it," Topa said. "At the beginning of the year, I was a little bit unsure. I didn't want to do too much or too little. Now that I have kind of settled in, my confidence is there. I have been playing basketball all my life, so I know I am a shooter and it is going to go in."

King said the entire five-member freshman class has brought energy, fearlessness and joy that raises the level of play of everyone in the program, which has no seniors this season. She believes that Topa brings unlimited potential to the program's future.

"Because of her character and the great person she is, Maddie is somebody that people want to go to battle with every night," King said. "It says so much about what we are going to be able to do as a program, to get back to winning Little East Conference championships and hopefully make a splash on the national level.

"Hopefully, it means people want to come in and play beside Maddie. She is somebody that is going to share the ball. She wants to make other people better."