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Losing streaks can sometimes be tough to climb out of.
The Woodstock Academy Centaurs girls’ basketball team was starting to get into a little rut, having lost three in a row.
Fortunately, the skid ended Jan. 17 with a 39-14 win over Ledyard.
“I think it was huge,” Woodstock Academy coach Will Fleeton said of the win. “Sometimes, you get caught in the habit and if that’s losing, you may continue to do so. It was good to shake that off, get the ‘W’ and get back on track.”
The win raised the Centaurs record to 7-5, one win shy of qualifying for the Class LL state tournament.
“That’s a tribute to the kids that they are really battling these good teams. We’ve played a lot of good teams already at the halfway point and have just as many more in the second half. The kids have done a really good job stepping it up,” Fleeton said.
The Centaurs wanted to get out of the gates quickly against the Colonels and they succeeded.
Ledyard scored the first two points off the tip, but Woodstock Academy responded with the next 16 points.
Junior point guard Marina Monrabal (five assists) was a key to the fast start.
She finished with nine steals, most of those coming off the press and many of those came early in the game.
“That was the whole key to getting out on them early. We picked them up, pressured them and that got us the early run,” Fleeton said.
The Centaurs went up 25-4 by the end of the first half, giving Fleeton the ability to substitute liberally.
Kayla Gaudreau led the Centaurs with 12 points, all of those coming off 3-point shots.
“It was nice to see her knocking down some shots. We need her to do that for us. She has been a little sporadic through the season trying to find her way. Ledyard is a tough place to play in, but I don’t think it is for Gaudreau. That might be her spot,” Fleeton said with a laugh.
Heather Converse added 11 points for the Centaurs while Katie Papp pulled down eight rebounds.
Things were not as good earlier in the week for the Centaurs who traveled to East Lyme and lost, 65-42.
The Centaurs are playing in Division I of the Eastern Connecticut Conference for a first time and have found the road to be a little bumpy, losing to the Vikings, Norwich Free Academy and New London.
“It’s been very difficult,” Fleeton said. “The positive on it is that the girls have really tried to step it up and play up to the match that level with effort and intensity. They have made it a little better than it could have been.”
The Centaurs hung with East Lyme early.
The two teams were tied at 13 in the first quarter before the Vikings pulled ahead by eight at the half. It was a double-digit lead for East Lyme going into the final quarter, but it was a manageable one as Woodstock Academy was down by only 11.
“Tough team, tough night, but I don’t think the score was indicative of the game. I think we lost control in the fourth. We got back within eight and then, we just fell off. I don’t think we played a horrible game, but we had a horrible fourth quarter,” Fleeton said.
The Centaurs were outscored in the fourth, 22-10.
Converse led the Centaurs with a double-double, 15 points, 12 rebounds, and Gaudreau added 13. Megan Bauman led the Vikings with 21 while Sophie Dubreuil added 18.
The tournament season will be difficult.
Not only do the Centaurs have to play in the ECC Division I tournament but also the Class LL state tourney,
“I hope it will help set us up for a good run in the ECC tournament and we will piggyback off of that into the LL. I’m partially excited (about the LL tournament) and partially afraid,” Fleeton said with a laugh. “It’s nice to be at this stage right now. Maybe it takes some pressure off the kids to know that we’re a little closer because it was a goal to qualify (for the state tournament), and this will take the pressure off and we can just go play,” Fleeton said.
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director
The Woodstock Academy
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