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Centaurs
capture ECC
Div.II regular
season title
The Woodstock Academy girls 'basketball team reached its first goal of the season Feb. 9.
The Centaurs downed Stonington, 40-34, to capture the Eastern Connecticut Conference Division II regular season title.
“It’s awesome. I don’t even know how to describe it. I’m so proud of my teammates, my girls, we’re a family. We did this together as a family. We worked together, practiced together and it just feels like a whole team win. I’m beyond happy,” said senior guard Mackenzie Cayer.
Centaurs coach Will Fleeton looked relieved when he finally sat down following the victory.
“Nice isn’t a big enough word, it’s truly amazing,” Fleeton said. “We did our weight training in the offseason, the girls put in the work. They expressed they wanted to ‘be considered’ for this opportunity. We made our way there, it was right in front of us, so it became, ‘Let’s take it.’”
Easy to say, not so easy to do.
The Centaurs put on a pair of hard-nosed defensive displays to get the job done.
They held down Bacon Academy, 44-26, on Tuesday to set up the showdown with Stonington.
“We were really excited to come out and play Bacon and we played with so much intensity and heart. Our defense sparked from there and we knew what we were playing for (Friday). We worked really hard. Every day is a new day, we were really excited, like we were on Tuesday,” Cayer said of the back-to-back fine performances by the team.
The Centaurs just got past the Bears by two points on Stonington’s home floor earlier in the season.
It wasn’t much easier Feb. 9.
Fleeton almost collapsed into a chair when it was over and put his head in his hands.
“The stress, the tension, I knew this would be a battle to the end. We seem to be each other’s equal. We’ve played eight times that I can remember and every one of those games was like (Friday). I knew it was going to be stressful, I knew it was going to be a battle, but I didn’t know it was going to be that stressful,” Fleeton said.
The Centaurs, who finished the regular season with a 15-5 record, 8-2 in ECC Division II, were up, 28-23, going into the fourth quarter.
But baskets by Kate Johnson and Aliza Bell for the Bears quickly closed that gap to one, 28-27.
The Academy got a pair of free throws from Jamie Woods (10 points) but with 4:56 left, Madison Brennan turned the tide.
The senior, one of the heroes in the win over the Bobcats earlier in the week, picked off a pass up top and won the foot race to the basket to put the Centaurs up by five, 32-27.
“She’s the fire of the team. We love her to death. She comes off (the bench) and gives us the energy we need. She’s crazy on ‘D’, she’s crazy on ‘O’, she’s just crazy,” Woods said.
Brennan finished with a team-high 13 points, eight of those points coming in the final four minutes of the second quarter to put the Centaurs up, 19-13, at the break.
Following the late Brennan basket, the Centaurs held the Bears (12-6, 7-3) at bay. They never got closer than four the remainder of the way.
Miranda Arruda scored 12 to lead Stonington, but the key was the Centaurs held Kate Hall and Kate Johnson to a combined 15 points.
“That’s our staple. (Defense) is where we live, it’s where we will die. I think we did a good job containing their guards because everything starts there. I think the bigs did a good job against (Bell) in the block and keeping (Stonington center Izadora Yarnall) off the boards. Once again, it was a complete team effort,” Fleeton said.
The Centaurs surprised some by winning the Division II championship last year.
This season, they will have to play against the toughest teams in the ECC as they will compete in the Division I tournament this year.
“That was absolutely the goal,” Woods said. “We know there will be a lot more competition in D-I but we’re ready to bring it.”
Feb. 6’s effort against Bacon was special.
“We were fighting for that tiebreaker in ECC Division II and this win was huge,” Fleeton said. “It’s special, because when we set expectations and different goals for ourselves, the girls really wanted to reach high. One thing they made clear to me was that it has been a long time since Woodstock has an ECC regular season title and they felt it was something they wanted to compete for. I asked them, ‘Does that mean we want to win it?’ They said, ‘We just want to be thought of.’”
The Centaurs set up the showdown against Stonington with an inspired effort against the Bobcats.
“Bacon is probably one of our biggest rivals this year and winning this game meant so much to our team,” said senior Madison Brennan.
Brennan best displayed the team’s determination late in the game.
Despite being up by 20 points at the time, Brennan was hit in the nose when she went up for a layup. She went to the floor, regained her footing, and suddenly found the basketball back in her hands. With nothing else to do, she attempted a shot, but it was blocked by Bacon’s Kellie Nudd who collected the ball and began running down the court.
Brennan, tears still streaking down her face from the blow she took, took off in pursuit and caught up to Nudd, knocking the ball from her hand and out of bounds. The ball went back to the Centaurs as it was last touched by Nudd.
“Put your heart on the line, that was our motto (Tuesday),” Brennan said.
There was very little, outside of a few missed inside shots ,that went wrong for the Centaurs.
“I think it was a very positive night in many areas,” Fleeton said. “We missed a few bunnies, but hit a few jump shots. Our defense held, like it should, but on the offensive side, it was great passing, great cutting, great decision-making and got some transition like we have strived for. I’m proud of the way we played and the position we’re in,” Fleeton said.
The Centaurs jumped out to a 10-2 lead and extended that to 11, 21-10, at the half.
A late basket by Jamie Woods (18 points) to end the third quarter kept that double digit lead in place.
Heather Converse chipped in with 10 points and 18 rebounds and the defense did the rest. In the four quarters played, the Bobcats reached double digits only once, 11 points, in the third quarter.
“That was probably the best help defense we’ve played all year. Defense is our No.1 thing. We have a saying that we take pride in our ‘D.’ We definitely did (on Tuesday),” Brennan said.
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director
.