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Lady
Clippers
cement
ECC title
PUTNAM --- The Putnam girls's varsity basketball team beat Lyman Feb. 12, 46-42, clinching the ECC Small Division title outright.
The Lady Clippers were led by Katelyn Tarr with 25 points. Also Kate Montgomery had 9 points and 7 rebounds.
The team has a 8-2 division record and a 13-5 overall record.
This is the second division title in four years for the program. The other coming in 2007.
Feb. 13 the Lady Clippers traveled to Hale-Ray for an out-of-league game and came home victorious 46-39. Leading scorers were Katelyn Tarr with 16, Regan Guillot 13 (including three three-pointers), Molly MacKenzie with six and Kate Montgomery with six points and eight rebounds.
It was a real team effort as the team improved to 14-5 overall, said head coach Willie Bousquet.
Centaurs: It Gets Better
Coming off a tough week having to play Bacon Academy (#8 Hartford Courant poll) and Norwich Free Academy (#4) on the road, the Woodstock Academy girls’ basketball team knew things could only get better. Things did get better as the Centaurs beat Griswold 43-39 in Woodstock and then traveled to East Lyme and upset the Vikings 59-56.
Against Griswold Feb. 9, WA got off to a strong start leading the Wolverines 15-7 after one and 26-13 at the half. Veronica Norman led the Centaurs with four threes in the first half and finished with 14 points for the game. However, during the third quarter Griswold sophomore Samantha Rentz began to shoot her team back into the game with 10 points in the quarter.
“We knew we had to find Rentz and Taylor McGrath defensively. They struggled some in the first half but then started to heat up,” said David Walley, Centaur head coach. The Wolverines were able to cut the Woodstock lead to two midway through the fourth, before WA put the game away. The Centaurs got a big three-point shot and two key foul shots from captain Shannon Papuga down the stretch. Rentz finished with 14 for Griswold, while Jessica Cornman-Homonoff and Justina Thoma added 14 and 7 respectively to Norman’s 14 for the Centaurs.
Feb. 12 the Centaurs traveled to East Lyme to try to keep their hope of playing in the postseason alive. They would need to defeat the Vikings and then beat Haddam-Killingworth Feb. 16. The Woodstock girls got off to a great start behind the spirited play of freshman Lindsay Weigand, who contributed 10 of her 15 points in the first quarter. Coach Walley said, “Lindsay gave us a huge lift early. She was all over the boards and finished every time she caught the ball. It was nice to see her playing with so much confidence.”
Playing what Walley called their “best half of basketball all season,” the Centaurs led 30-20 at the half. East Lyme would not make things easy however, cutting the lead to 5 after three and taking a one-point lead with a minute to play. The East Lyme come back was provided by freshman Allison Stoddard and junior Clair Tocheny, who each scored 17 for the game and 16 of the Viking’s 20 points in the fourth quarter.
“They are both excellent players. Stoddard is outstanding for a freshman. We were playing man, and we lost them a few times on switches, and they hit their shots,” said Walley. Fortunately for the Centaurs Jessica Cornman-Homonoff was able to provide some fireworks of her own scoring 12 points in the fourth and a season-high 23 for the game.
Walley added, “Jess was unreal. We just kept going to her late and she kept delivering. She kept us in the game.” East Lyme took their first lead with a minute left in the game and added to it when the Centaurs elected to foul with 17 seconds left. The Viking’s Paige Mebus made two foul shots to extend the East Lyme lead to 3. The ball was inbounded to Woodstock captain Shannon Papuga who drove the right sideline and found junior guard Cori Bailey at the top of the key. Bailey’s shot found nothing but net, tying the game at 56 with five seconds remaining.
“Before she hit the shot, Cori was playing a great game defensively and rebounding, I thought it was one of the best games she had played all year. The shot was icing on the cake. It was awesome,” said her coach. What happened next was a pleasant surprise for the Centaurs. In an attempt to set up a final play the East Lyme bench called a timeout which resulted in a technical foul since they had previously used their last timeout of the game. Woodstock Academy was then able to select any member of their team to shoot the two foul shots. Walley did not hesitate with his decision, sending junior Shannon Papuga to the line, “Shannon is a competitor and a good foul shooter. When the pressure is on, that is the type of kid you want taking the shot for your team.” Papuga made one of two, giving WA the lead, was quickly fouled again on the ensuing inbound play and made two more to give Woodstock a 59-56 win. Walley added, “The girls played an outstanding game, probably their best game of the year. It would be great if we could beat H-K on Tuesday and qualify for the ECC and State Tournaments.”