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ready for
state tourney
It was two good efforts last week for the Woodstock Academy girls’ basketball team.
It was enough to put a smile on the face of coach Will Fleeton for a considerably long time.
That’s because the Centaurs are now off until March 2 when they will play on the road at Norwich Free Academy in a Class LL first-round state tournament game.
“That’s a big gap but the norm is the norm, we have to work and get ready for the next one. Nothing really changes,” Fleeton said of the near two-week break for Woodstock Academy.
There was the possibility that the Centaurs were going to have to travel to some faraway place like Trumbull, Danbury or Norwalk on Monday.
Fleeton was fine with that.
“I don’t worry about the miles,” Fleeton said with a laugh. “When you are in Woodstock, you put a lot of miles on no matter what.”
It would have given the Centaurs some fresh faces to play.
Instead, as expected, the Centaurs finished as the 29th seed in Class LL and will travel a much short distance to play No. 4 Norwich Free Academy for a third time this season.
“It’s both a plus and a minus. We know them, they know us, so there is a little comfort because in state tournament play, you sometimes have to dig for information. With this being a league team and having played them twice, the information is right there. But they know who we are, too,” Fleeton said.
Norwich Free Academy won both meetings between the two in the regular season.
Last week Woodstock Academy finished the regular season with a 49-42 win over rival Killingly early last week.
The win meant the Centaurs finished with a 7-13 regular season record, good enough to qualify for the Class LL state tournament.
“The kids have been going hard and doing things the right way so there is not much to be sad about. In the big scheme of things, their effort has paid dividends recently and that’s how we got to seven wins,” Fleeton said.
The Centaurs won four of their last six regular season games.
They followed that up with a hard-fought 31-30 loss to Ledyard in an ECC Div. I girls’ tournament play-in game Feb. 19.
The offense was hard to find at times for the eight-seeded Centaurs against No. 9 Ledyard (6-15) in the second meeting of the season between the two.
But the defense was stellar “That’s who we are,” Fleeton said. “We put our emphasis on the defensive end and, a lot of times; it might spark some transition offense. I thought we defended them well and we executed the defensive game plan.”
But that game plan, both offensively and defensively, against Ledyard was thrown askew when senior guard Kayla Gaudreau picked up her third foul with just a little over two minutes left in the first quarter.
The Woodstock Academy coach had a sub waiting to come in when Gaudreau picked up her second foul just about a minute and a half before.
Without a stoppage in play, Peyton Saracina kneeled in front of the scorer’s table and Gaudreau, playing Ledyard’s top offensive threat, Natalyah Williams, was whistled again before Peyton Saracina could get on to the court.
After the third foul, Fleeton knew he had to sit Gaudreau for an extended period of time as she was likely to quickly draw her fourth against the physical Williams.
She didn’t return to the floor until midway through the third quarter.
Fellow senior Hallie Saracina, who had at least four steals in the first half, took over on Williams defensively and held her at bay as the sophomore scored only six points prior to the break.
Woodstock Academy owned a 16-14 lead at the end of the half following an Alexa Pechie (11 points) 3-pointer with 1:34 left in the second quarter.
The biggest margin in the second half was a four-point Woodstock Academy lead on a Katie Papp basket off an assist from Gaudreau with a minute left in the third quarter.
But Ledyard tied the game and the Centaurs clawed back within one when Peyton Saracina (7 points) hit a free throw.
Hallie and Peyton Saracina forced turnovers on the next two Ledyard possessions and Woodstock Academy finally was rewarded when Pechie was fouled and she sank the two free throws.
Another offensive board by Ledyard set up what proved to be the game-winner. A desperation shot by the Centaurs at the buzzer fell short.
The win over Killingly earlier in the week was the second this season and second in a week for Woodstock Academy over their rivals
Fleeton said the game felt like a 1-point game throughout even though the Centaurs briefly established a double-digit lead on Killingly’s home floor.
“I felt the pressure, thought it was a tight game, even though we were managing it,” Fleeton said.
Papp led the Centaurs with 18 points.
Gaudreau added 10 points in the win.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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