Maria Conlon, a member of three national championship teams at UConn, has always had the ability to deliver in the clutch whether it was at the high school, AAU or college level. In the championship game of the New Haven Summer League on Monday, she proved she still has it.

Conlon scored 13 of her game-high 20 points in the second half as Plus 2 won its second straight title with a 55-40 win over the Wolfpack, which is actually the Western Connecticut squad which reached the second round of the NCAA Division III tournament.

When Western Connecticut rising senior guard Heather Lee hit a 3-pointer, the Wolfpack had a surprising three-point lead late in the first half. At halftime, Plus 2 only led by a point.

Since the team doesn't play or practice together that often, Conlon suggested they scrap the zone in favor of man to man. The result was a 24-8 run to open the second half which broke the game wide open. Conlon had six points and two assists during that span including six straight points at one point.

Former University of Hartford star Kenitra Johnson added nine points, 14 rebounds and four blocks for Plus 2, which is also in the finals of the Hartford Pro-Am this weekend.

Karli Spera led the Wolf Pack with 12 points while Lee, who like Conlon is a former Seymour High star, had 11 points and three rebounds. The Wolfpack was playing without WestConn's rising senior center Melissa Teel of Hamden. Teel, the Little East Conference's Player of the Year, is currently in Brazil playing on a team of Division III all-stars. While it's impossible to say that Teel's appearance would have changed the outcome, she would have allowed the Wolfpack to match up much better with Johnson and Kendra Walton down low.

With Teel, Lee and Spera all seniors and the only player gone from the NCAA tournament squad being fourth-leading scorer Katie Moffo, another NCAA tournament appearance could be in the works for WCSU especially since incoming freshmen Molly Poryanda and Caroline Brasa look like they will contrribute immediately for WestConn. Poryanda had all seven of her points in the first half while Brasa had five points.

In the high school final, Hillhouse held off Career 32-31. Colleene Smith had nine points and 12 rebounds, Andreana Thomas had nine points and four steals and Bria Holmes finished with eight points and three blocks. Holmes, a highly-touted rising junior who is gifted enough that UConn coach Geno Auriemma took in a Hillhouse game last season, hit a game-winning free throw with 9 seconds to play. Career's Nicole Anderson just missed a game-winning jumper at the buzzer. Holmes said there's not much to report regarding her recruiting which is understandable since she has yet to start her junior year at Hillhouse.

Jasmine Claxton had eight of her 10 points in the fourth quarter to bring Career back.

There will be a story in Tuesday's edition of the Register and a couple of videos from the two championship games on Monday will be available on the Register's web site.

Finally, league founder Bill Dixon told me that the championship game in the New Haven Midnight Madness league (ages 10-14) will be held at Mohegan Sun Arena before Friday's WNBA game between the Connecticut Sun and Seattle Storm, a game that will feature six former UConn stars as Sue Bird, Swin Cash and Svetlana Abrosimova play for Seattle while Asjha Jones, Renee Montgomery and Tina Charles are stars for the Sun.