Greenwich High School’s varsity girls basketball team certainly heads into its showdown against FCIAC rival Staples in top form.

Winners of nine consecutive games, the Cardinals head into their matchup versus the undefeated Wreckers with a record of 9-1, including recent victories against New Canaan, Wilton and Bridgeport Central. In their most recent triumph, Greenwich earned a methodical 47-26 home win over New Canaan.

The victory gave the Cardinals an overall record of 9-1 and an FCIAC mark of 5-0. Staples, which visits Greenwich tonight (Jan. 23), also has an FCIAC record of 5-0 and is 9-0 so far this season. Trumbull is also one of the most formidable teams in the conference. The Eagles sport a 10-0 record and are 5-0 in FCIAC play. Against New Canaan, senior guard/forward Madi Utzinger led a balanced scoring effort for the Cardinals, totaling 12 points.

“It was a really hard battle,” Utzinger said. “New Canaan came in and really pushed us. Overall, we played well.”

Sophomore point guard Elsa Xhakaj added 11 points for the Cardinals, who held a 13-3 lead on the Rams after the first quarter, before entering intermission with a 23-12 advantage.

“They were playing very physical, but we just pushed through it and played as a team and got through it together,” Xhekaj said after the Cards topped the visiting Rams.

Sophomore center Zuri Faison scored eight points and was a force on the defensive and offensive backboards, while senior guard Juliette Faison contributed eight points in the winning effort.

“It was a tough game, they through a lot of different looks at us and that frazzled us a little bit, but we got it together,” Pelham said. “By the second quarter, we picked it up again. They were playing very aggressively and were good competition, but we did a really good job of picking it up.”

Senior forward Mikayla Kiernan swished two 3-point shots for six points and senior forward Maddie Young converted a 3-pointer for the Cardinals, who took a 32-20 lead on the Rams into the fourth quarter.

Eliza Lorenz scored 11 points with two 3-pointers for New Canaan, which didn’t give in despite falling behind by double digits early in the opening quarter.

“It’s a tough league, you never know what could happen and New Canaan came out and showed that, they were tough competition,” GHS coach Megan Wax said. “We played very well each quarter. We grew, grew, grew, as they threw a whole bunch of different things at us. We tried to adapt and get our pace and not play as frantic and chaotic as they wanted to make us play.”

Kiernan started the game’ scoring with a 3-pointer from the left corner. After New Canaan closed to within 5-3 on a 3-pointer by Lorenz, Utzinger, Faison and Pelham each made baskets, extending Greenwich’s advantage to 13-3 after eight minutes of action.

A fastbreak layup and a pair of foul shots by Xhekaj made it 22-7 in favor of the Cards late in the second quarter. The Rams finished the second quarter strong and pulled to within 25-18 when Lorenz made a shot from beyond the arc early in the third quarter. The Cardinals took control thereafter and pulled away for the 21-point triumph, using their trademark strong defense to pave the way.

“We played very good defense,” Xhekaj noted. “We have a lot of areas we need to improve, but I feel we’re getting better every day.”

“It was a really hard-fought game by both teams ,” Kiernan said. “They were really aggressive and we were able to match their aggressiveness. It worked out well for us.”

As for playing Staples?

“I think it’s going to be a good game,” Kiernan noted. “We’re going to play our hardest and play to our strengths.”

“We’re excited, they’re a really talented team and they’ve had a great start,” Wax said of Staples. “I think we’re really talented and it’s going to be a great night for the FCIAC. Hopefully, we can outlast them.”

Said Utzinger: “We’re really excited to play a great team, it should be a really good game.”