Dad savors his daughter’s championship journey to Mohegan Sun

Bristol Central guard Molly McMahon looks to pass in Saturday’s Division II championship game. Her father, Bob, coached the Thomaston High girls basketball team who played in six Class S finals at Mohegan Sun from 2013-22. (Photo courtesy CIAC)

By RICK WILSON
Special to The Collinsville Press

Bob McMahon stood there his green pullover offering some spirited bright to the St. Patrick’s Day night in the Bethel High School gym as the Staples and Bristol Central girls basketball teams battled it out in the Division II state semifinals.

Halftime provided a brief but welcome respite from the consistent fidget that the bleachers struggled to contain.

McMahon, the former Thomaston High girls basketball coach, had been there before as part of this Run to the Sun thing — that chance to dance the dream dance on the final day of the season at Mohegan Sun and play for a state championship.

In 2013. In 2014. In 2015. In 2016. In 2017. In 2022. Six times in 10 seasons, five in succession, Thomaston ended their season at the Mohegan Sun.

McMahon, who will be inducted into the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame in April, had smiled the smiles of achievement, absorbed the admiration of accomplishment, dripped the sweat that only a march to a championship game can produce.

He walked in familiarity with March Madness and March Sadness. Three times in 2014, 2015 and 2022, he embraced the euphoria that goes with being the best.

But this time around the familiar was different. This was more personal than it ever was or ever would be. This time was about family not the Golden Bears family.

This was about watching his own, daughter Molly, a senior for Bristol Central, a sharpshooting three-point threat with more than a bit of defensive prowess.

This was not about just taking the game home, it was about taking your daughter home.

The roles were reversed. A delightfully painful switch.

Molly grew up watching dad’s Bears. She saw the magic; she lived the magic. She traveled the bus with them and knew the players while Mohegan became like a huge yet endearing living room in a second home. It was never once in a lifetime. How about six times in a lifetime?

Now it was dad’s turn to do the watching. Dad the coach was always in control, strategizing, adjusting, motivating, comforting. This time around there was nagging helplessness. As a dad, he could only watch and cheer, watch and fear and let it all unfold.

“I am so nervous,” Bob McMahon had said as he entered the gym in Bethel. “This is so much harder than coaching (with Thomaston). Nothing compares to this.”

At halftime, just 16 minutes from Mohegan he was calling on the basketball gods.

“One last time, one last time,” McMahon repeated over and over as he stood there. “Let’s close the book (on getting to Mohegan and hopefully winning). Let’s close the book.”

Bristol Central held off Staples, 67-62, helped by huge Molly 3-pointer late to win that Division II semifinal and secure a spot in the championship game at Mohegan Sun.

The former coach went through a lot of ups and downs, “calm downs,” headshakes and stand and claps and stop reaching exhortations.

At contest’s end, there was one more game and one last game.

The nerves were comforted during the week as the texts came fast and furious.

Players who knew the journey and traveled the championship road with him. Abby Hurlbert, Morgan Sanson, Nic Schafer, Laura Brochu just a few that wanted one more time for the coach and one time for Molly.

On Saturday afternoon, Bob McMahon sat in the Bristol Central fan section with his wife Sue, just one of the faces in the crowd with the other dads and families and player’s families as Bristol Central and Rocky Hill played for a state championship.

The Rams and Molly took him on a roller coaster ride, tempting his blood pressure and testing his faith. In the end, they gave him a day to cherish.

Bristol Central led top-seeded Rocky Hill for most of the game and nearly lost it late in regulation only to be saved by Kamaria Bowen’s 3-pointer with 1:06 remaining that was instrumental in sending the game into overtime, 47-47.

The Rams looked finished when Rocky Hill took a five-point lead, 52-47 with 3:10 remaining in overtime.

“We were in trouble,” McMahon said. “It was nerve-wracking.”

Then, Bristol Central’s Nicole Reimer went crazy. She was the rainbow behind the dark cloud.

She sank a foul shot and had a three-point play off an offensive rebound. Another three-point play and two more foul shots. Nine points in an 11-point overtime run. A 25-point, 22 rebound effort as Bristol Central won their first championship in girls basketball, 58-52. The gritty, talented senior is going to make some college coach pretty happy.

On this day, Reimer etched a performance into Bristol lore that has unlimited shelf life.

Bob McMahon has seen endings and performances in the same vein. His 2014, his Thomaston squad beat St. Paul in the Class S final in double OT, highlighted by three foul shots with 0.02 seconds left in the first OT which kept the game going until the Bears could secure the championship.

But this was different. This was Molly’s team, Molly’s day. Dad’s heart.

The coach got up and hugged his wife and if you know Bob McMahon you know there was a ‘Hell Yeah” in there somewhere. A trademark testament to excellence.

Molly grasped the big picture. Mohegan, state title, dad and mom.

“This means everything,” she said basking the glow of being on top of the basketball world. “It’s one thing I wanted to accomplish. I watched dad and I watched him win everything. He knows this is a game of runs and I am sure he was nervous, but we had it.”

A half hour after the game just outside the entrance to the Mohegan Sun arena, Bob McMahon stood with his wife, Sue, and a multitude of well-wishers. He didn’t have to say much, he didn’t have to.

He just looked up with his chest pumped up with parental pride and shook a reporter’s hand with a championship how-awesome is this smile.

One last time. One more time with a touch that can’t be duplicated – Molly.

The book is closed. What a marvelous book with a killer of a last chapter.

The Bristol Central girls basketball team celebrates with classmates Saturday at the Mohegan Sun Arena. (Photo courtesy CIAC)