PSA girls pg 9 5-16-19
- Details
- Category: Current Issue
PUTNAM —The Putnam Science Academy Lady Mustangs second year saw great success and Head Coach Derek Marchione has already made a few splashes in the early goings of the offseason.
In the last month, the Lady Mustangs have added two lethal shooters in Delaney Haines and Sophie Tougas and a slashing guard from New York in Angelica Velez.
Velez will be making a big step as an eighth grader playing in high school at the Prep level. Angelica made social media headlines a few months back with one of her highlights being posted on Instagram by “Overtime” a basketball social media juggernaut. Velez used her patented cross-over along with bouncing the ball between the defender’s legs and splashing a step-back three-pointer as the defender fell to the ground. She plays AAU with Exodus, .N.Y., a Nike EYBL program, and for coach Dominique Nute. At 5-foot, 6-inches she is known for her defense and can score at all three levels on the offensive end with a knack for getting to the basket and finishing at the rim.
Something the PSA Lady Mustangs struggled with last year was shooting the ball. This year, PSA will turn to not only 1 but 2 shooters who can make an immediate impact on the team.
Sophie Tougas, a 6-1 guard from Brewster Academy, saw success at Brewster piling up over a dozen Division 1 offers before electing to transfer to Putnam Science Academy. She is known for her shooting ability. Tougas holds offers from: The University of Albany, Seton Hall, George Mason, Lafayette, Siena, UMass-Lowell, Rhode Island, Colgate and Cal State-Bakersfield just to name a few. Tougas shot 35 percent from downtown in 2017 while averaging 9.5 points per game, sparking plenty of interest from Division 1 programs. Sophie then made a splash in New Hampshire at Brewster before eyeing PSA as a chance to take her game to the next level. “Sophie Tougas is a great shooter, we didn’t have many shooters last year so she will help stretch the floor and improve our offense in the half-court” said Coach Marchione. “You can’t leave her open, she can score the ball in multiple ways and I can see her being huge for us this upcoming season.”
It’s not just Tougas who can shoot the ball from 3-point land.
Delaney Haines, who was a semi-finalist for Maine’s Miss Basketball and was named to Maine’s McDonald’s All-Star Game, comes from Portland, Maine, and brings with her a lot of intrigue. Haines was hurt during her senior year at Deering High School and came back from injury towards the end of the season helping lead her team to the State Championship game. At 5-8, Haines averaged 17 points per game during her senior year campaign and shot 80 percent from the free-throw line. Delaney did it all grabbing 3.5 rebounds per game to go along with 2.5 steals per game and 2.6 assists per game.
“Delaney Haines is a post-grad from Maine, she’s another shooter that will help us tremendously. She made the finals of the state tournament in Maine and is a proven scorer … She’s skilled and she will only get better when she plays with the type of players we will have on our team,” Marchione said.
Josh Sanchas
Sports Information Director
Putnam Science Academy
.