A season's worth of dedication and effort left the Shepaug Valley High School girls' basketball team a single win shy of their goal.
Coach John Spear's Spartans closed the books Feb. 16 on a 7-13 campaign, a victory short of the eight wins necessary for state tournament qualification.
The Region 12 girls appeared poised to achieve their goal two weeks earlier when they outlasted Terryville, 53-40, on their home court to improve to 7-9.
However, coach Spear's crew then proceeded to sandwich tough losses to Thomaston, 49-45, and Litchfield, 34-30, with defeats to Berkshire League powers Wamogo, 40-25, and Nonnewaug, 45-23.
Melinda Fragomeli, Brittany Hartman and Gwen Clair accounted for the bulk of the Spartans' scoring during the nailbiter vs. Thomaston with their respective 14, 13 and eight-point efforts.
Season's end marked the close of the Shepaug basketball careers of Claudia Bierce, Gwen Clair, Ariana Lowe, Ali Moravsky, Linnea Quist and Meghan White.