NORWICH -  The Norwich Tech girls basketball team failed to notch its first Connecticut Technical Conference division victory against Windham Tech Friday night.
The Warriors second-half comeback attempt fell short as Windham escaped, 40-32.
Norwich Tech was led by Erin McBride’s nine points and Julia Robert’s eight points.
Windham Tech’s Marissa Shirshac, who is the school’s all-time leading scorer, had a game-high 23 points. She scored 13 points in the second half.
The loss is the second in a row for the Warriors, who got their second win of the season last week against Vinal Tech. Norwich now has a record of 2-13 overall, 0-3 in the division.
Windham Tech bounced back from Thursday’s lossagainst Griswold. The Tigers now sit at 8-7, 3-3 on the season. 

Defending a player such as Shirshac can prove to be difficult for any opposing defense. Norwich Tech head coach Timothy Krodel praised Shirshac’s abilities.
“She is a difference maker,” Krodel said. “She can score from pretty much anywhere from 25 feetin. That put a little bit of pressure on our defense there, and, probably, affected our offense a little bit.”
 When asked how to defend a player like Shirshac, Krodel said, “With all five of our girls, pretty much. Our guards had to make sure they were always aware of her presence. They will set high ball screens and she’ll dribble once and shoot off of those.”
Norwich’s offense got off to a solid start before fizzling down in the middle of the game, which allowed Windham to get enough separation from Norwich to stave off their comeback attempt. 
“We kind of got off of our offensive set against their zone,” Krodel said. “We became a little bit undisciplined on our offense. Once we keep good spacing and execute, we can usually get open looks. Sometimes they go in, sometimes they don’t; you can’t control that piece.”
Despite their offensive struggles at points during the game, the Wildcats kept the game within striking distance down the stretch despite being down relatively large at times.
“That is all we look for. We want them to be resilient,” Krodel added. “We don’t want them to look at the scoreboard and think ‘we don’t stand a chance.’ Just keep playing the game, respect the game. Play hard for those 32 minutes, that is all we look for here. One thing we can do every night consistently is play hard; and they did. They really played a tough game.”
Norwich Tech will travel to Ellis Tech for a game at 6 p.m. on Monday night looking to notch their first divisional victory of the season.