Girls’ Wrap-up

Tourtellotte,

Woodstock 

enjoy magic 

of victory

By Ron P. Coderre

It doesn’t seem possible but most local girls’ basketball teams have already reached the halfway point of their seasons.  At this juncture the playoff picture is beginning to take some clarity.  The Tourtellotte Lady Tigers of coach Carla Faucher with eight wins have already qualified for the CIAC tournament.  Three teams, Woodstock, Plainfield and Putnam, each with five wins, only need three more wins to make the postseason list. 

All high school and prep schools were fully engaged in activity last week with Woodstock Academy 2-0 and Tourtellotte 3-0 posting perfect records.  Killingly, which is much improved over previous seasons, split a pair of contests as did the Plainfield Lady Panthers.  Putnam won two-of-three, while Ellis Tech was beaten three times, dropping to 0-8 on the season.

Some of the prep squads were still playing in tournaments.  Marianapolis and Pomfret with wins over Governor’s Academy and JFK High School enjoyed success.  Marianapolis V2 team was winless as was Hyde-Woodstock.

Lady Tigers Riding High

Tourtellotte rode the inside play of its twin towers Deanna Lazarra and Jess Dodd and the hot shooting of Allie Ablondi in posting three relatively easy victories to go to 8-1 on the season.  They opened the week with a 46-17 lopsided win over Windham Tech as Lazzara (14) and Dodd (12) combined for 26 points to lead the way.

The Lady Tigers next victim was hapless Ellis Tech which was drubbed 63-11 as Ablondi led the way with 17 points.  They closed out the week with a satisfying 41-27 win over Wheeler at home.  Ablondi once again was the high scorer with 14 points.

Woodstock Academy evened its record at 5-5 with a pair of legitimate wins.  The Lady Centaurs posted victories over Lyman and Fitch.  The Acads took the measure of Lyman 50-40 in a game that they led throughout.  Galina Gruder, who’s been Woodstock’s leading scorer all season, paced the win with 19 points.  Long-range bomber Rebecca Messier added 14, with two coming from beyond the arc.  Colleen Topliff chipped in 10 points.

The Lady Centaurs then faced Eastern Connecticut Conference Large Division foe Fitch.  After trailing by two points at intermission Woodstock shut down the Falcons in the second half, limiting the visitors to 10 points as they won going away 48-33.  Gruder (15) and Messier (11), including two more from three-point land, were the leading scorers.

Putnam posted wins over a pair of Tech school opponents, beating Norwich Tech 27-21 and Ellis Tech 35-17.  Although no one hit double figures in the win over Norwich Tech, three players contributed to the win as the Lady Clippers spread out the scoring.  Alyssa Frederick and Lynsay Dashnaw each had eight points, with Dashnaw’s entire production coming from the charity stripe.  Freshman Ashley Burke chipped in five points.  In the win over the Lady Eagles Burke was the high scorer with 12 points, while sophomore Alyssa Espinosa added 10.  Sydney Tetreault with nine markers was high scorer for the losers.  Sandwiched between the victories the Lady Clippers were beaten by former Quinebaug Valley Conference foe Griswold 40-25.

Plainfield, which is 5-5 overall and 1-3 in the ECC Medium Division, lost to Stonington 62-49 and rebounded for a 68-32 victory over archrival Griswold.  Zoe Beaver had 17 points in the loss to Stonington.  Julie Jordan with 20 points paced the Lady Panthers as they rebounded with the win over Griswold.  Madeline L’Orange was also in double figures with 12 points.  

Killingly with three wins in its first 10 games has already picked up more victories than it did last season.  The Redgals behind Meagan Bianchi, who had her best offensive performance of the season with 24 points, beat Wheeler 48-42.  Karissa Slowik was also in double digits with 14 points.  In its first game of the week Killingly was dropped by Waterford at home 60-31.

In addition to being beaten by Tourtellotte and Putnam, Ellis Tech also lost to Grasso Tech 54-28.

Pomfret & MPS Victors in Tough Week for Preps

Pomfret School raised its record to 5-4 on the season with a convincing 76-44 victory over Governor’s Academy in a game played on the road in Byfield, Mass.  The Griffins placed three players in double figures, led by Deja Ross with a game high 20 markers.  Juliette Lawless turned in a significant all-around performance with 18 points, eight rebounds and four blocked shots.  Alyze Davis with 14 points and Rebecca Erosa with 10 were the other Pomfret double digit scorers.

Hyde-Woodstock despite an amazing 40-point performance by Trayniece Mims fell to the Wheeler School of Rhode Island 76-56.  Dossou Ndiaye had 12 points for the 3-4 Wolfpack.

The Marianapolis V1 unit lost a heartbreaking overtime contest to Rivers School 66-65.  Jordan Frye and Rachel Aho each had 17 points in the loss.  In the New Year’s Resolution Tournament in Iselin, N.J.,  the Lady Knights were dropped by National Christian 62-36.  Aho with a dozen markers was high scorer for 5-6 Marianapolis.  The Lady Knights picked up the pieces, beating host JFK High School 55-46 behind Game MVP Caroline Soucy who dropped in 16 points for the winners.  Sophomore Frye added 14 and Aho had 11 markers and nine boards. 

The Marianapolis V2 squad, which is 2-4 on the year, lost its only contest of the week 47-15 to the Wheeler School.