By Ron P. Coderre

Three local high school teams can breathe easily as they’ve qualified for the CIAC postseason by posting the minimum eight victories in the regular season.  Tourtellotte, Plainfield and Putnam are on the road to tournament play as they’ve passed the eight-win plateau with room to spare.  Tourtellotte not only qualified but the Lady Tigers of coach Carla Faucher have captured the Eastern Connecticut Conference Small Division regular season crown.  As of press time they boast a perfect 8-0 Small Division record.

Woodstock Academy, which hasn’t reached the tourney in many moons, is on the bubble.  The Lady Centaurs, under the guidance of coach Willie Bousquet, are enjoying one of their most successful seasons in recent history.  The Acads are one win from qualifying with three games to play.  Killingly and Ellis Tech are running out the string.

The preps had a light schedule last week with Pomfret School the only team to pick up a victory.  Hyde-Woodstock and the Marianapolis V1 and V2 teams were winless.

Tourtellotte – We are 

the Champions

The recent snow storms caused a number of postponements, forcing many of the schools to reschedule.  Tourtellotte, thanks to Colbie and Darius, was forced to play back–to-back contests but the Lady Tigers reached for a little extra and pulled off a pair of wins to clinch the ECC Small Division title, making them the pride of Tigerland.

Tourtellotte opened the week against a formidable foe Windham High School and disposed of the Lady Whippets with relative ease 64-29.  After a close first quarter in which they were on top 16-10, the Lady Tigers turned up the defensive pressure and held Windham to only 19 points over the final 24 minutes.

The duo of senior Allie Ablondi and sophomore Abbie Poirier were the offensive catalysts in the win.  Ablondi led all scorers with 17 points with three of her hoops coming from beyond the arc.  Poirier, who is emerging as Tourtellotte’s leader of the future, had 16 points in a brilliant performance.

The next night a tired but courageous bunch of Lady Tigers traveled to North Stonington where they tackled a pesky Wheeler High School team.   In the end Tourtellotte prevailed with a hard fought 49-46 win to raise its overall record to 14-3.  The Allie and Abbie show of Ablondi and Poirier once again led the way to victory.  Ablondi was game-high scorer with 21 points as she continued her long-range assault with six three-pointers, while Poirier chipped in 13 points.

Putnam also enjoyed a perfect week with two wins in raising its record to 9-7 on the season and 8-2 in the Constitution State Conference – East.  The Lady Clippers opened by easily disposing of Ellis Tech 48-8 behind a 16 point performance from freshman Ashley Burke.  Captain Lynsay Dashnaw added 13 markers.  The Lady Techsters also lost 62-34 to Windham Tech to go to 1-16 overall and 0-10 in the CSC – East.

The Lady Clippers then picked up a satisfying 34-29 win over CSC – East opponent Parish Hill.  Alyssa Espinosa and Burke with nine points apiece were Putnam’s top scorers, in a game that the Lady Clippers never trailed the Lady Pirates, who had embarrassed the Lady Clippers earlier in the season.  

Plainfield picked up a key win as it rode Julie Jordan’s 26-point performance to a 61-58 overtime win against a good Stonington team.  Madeline Lorange added 15 points for the 9-7 Lady Panthers, who are 4-4 in the ECC Medium Division.  Plainfield outscored the Lady Bears 5-2 in the extra stanza as a Zoe Beaver basket was the difference in the outcome.

Woodstock Academy clinging to a faint hope of qualifying for the postseason split a pair of wins last week to go to 7-10 overall and 2-6 in the ECC Large Division.  The Lady Centaurs need one win in their final three games to qualify for the CIAC tourney.

Bacon Academy temporarily stalled the Lady Centaurs as it prevailed in a 50-40 victory despite the fact that Woodstock placed three players in double figures.  Galina Gruder was the Acads top gun with 13 points, while Abby Willis and Rebecca Messier each chipped in 10 points.

The Lady Centaurs rebounded with an impressive 45-38 win over Fitch High School in a game played in Groton.  Woodstock fell behind 19-14 at intermission but a solid second half in which they outscored the Lady Falcons 31-19 was the difference in the contest.  Alyson Calabrese turned in a 14-point performance to pace the Academy offense, while Messier added 12 points with two coming from beyond the three-point arc.

Killingly suffered through a three-loss week, falling to 3-13 on the year.  The Redgals were beaten by Plainfield 65-35 as the Lady Panthers Madeline Lorange filled the hoop with 31 points and Shannon Sweeney added 12 markers.  The Redgals then lost 38-29 to Waterford and 80-33 to New London, one of the top teams in Connecticut.

Pomfret Victorious on Huge Offensive Show

Pomfret School went to 9-5 on the season as it exploded on offense for a 74-48 victory over the Groton School.  Three players hit double digits for the Lady Griffins led by Juliette Lawless who posted 20 points as she continues on her road to 1000 points.  Deja Ross had 18 points and Alyzae Davis 17 for Pomfret in support of Lawless.

Hyde-Woodstock lost three games last week to fall to 3-10 on the season.  The Wolfpack was beaten by Portsmouth Abbey 45-29 and by Providence Country Day 48-22.  Dossou Ndiaye was the leading Hyde scorer in both games with 25 and 10 points respectively.  Hyde closed out its week losing to St. Andrew’s 58-17.

The Marianapolis V2 unit dropped to 3-7 on the season, as the Little Lady Knights was beaten by St. Andrew’s 87-23.

 

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