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Roundup
Centaurs girls
on a roll; now
winners of 9
straight
It is certainly a happy locker room. The Woodstock Academy girls’ basketball team has had a pretty successful first month of the season.
“We’ve worked very hard at practice. I feel like, as a team, we’ve been grinding and it has been paying off for us,” said junior Sophia Sarkis.
Nine straight wins, 10 overall in the first 11 games and a state tournament berth clinched.
“The way we’re playing right now, I’m ecstatic,” said coach Will Fleeton. “They are executing, doing the things that we’ve talked about. As competitive as I am, I want to win but deep inside if the girls perform like they have performed, I’m happy regardless.”
It’s been a pretty simple formula for the most part. Get out to a fast start.
Produce another balanced effort. Post another win.
“Honestly, it’s a team effort,” said sophomore guard Kaylee Saucier. “Every game there is a different high scorer. We’re not worried about ourselves but more about what the team can accomplish together.”
Woodstock finished off a rather interesting week Saturday with a 46-21 win over Amistad High School.
The Centaurs started a four-game, two-opponent stretch the Saturday before with a win over Amistad on the Wolves home floor.
They picked up wins over East Lyme on both Tuesday and Thursday prior to the second victory over the Wolves.
“That was our goal,” Sarkis said of finishing 4-0 in that stretch.
Woodstock wasted little time as it scored the first 15 points of the game and led 18-5 at the end of the first quarter Saturday.
Sarkis (five rebounds, two assists) came on in the second quarter to score all six of her points in the game in a two-minute stretch.
“I try to contribute any way I can and coach wants me as a spark off the bench whether it’s through points, offensive rebounds, defense, whatever it is, I will do it,” Sarkis said.
Those thoughts resonate throughout the team.
Against the Wolves, Saucier led the way with 14 points while Eva Monahan added seven.
Senior captain Reegan Reynolds contributed five offensive rebounds.
“It was a trap game and we had to perform,” Fleeton said. “I think we performed at a high level and handled what we should handle. We were able to work on some new things within the game because I kind of knew what defense they would show and we prepped for it a bit and were able to work on some things that will, hopefully, help us in the future.”
It was Monahan who turned the tide on Thursday in a 49-33 win over East Lyme.
The Vikings kept it close early as the first half ended in a 20-20 tie.
But the junior center caught fire in the third quarter.
She scored 12 of her game-high 20 points to lead the Centaurs on a 20-5 run that essentially sealed the victory for Woodstock.
Monahan was also a monster on the offensive glass, pulling down 11 rebounds on that end.
Isabel D’Alleva-Bochain added 12 points in the win.
Just a day prior, the two teams had met and it was decided much faster.
The Centaurs posted a much easier, 61-25, victory.
The two wins over the Vikings raised the Centaurs ECC Div. I record to 3-1.
The Centaurs got out of the gates quickly. Saucier scored seven of her 12 points in the first quarter as Woodstock bolted to a 13-5 advantage by the end of the first quarter.
Despite the early lead, Saucier thought it could still be better.
“We know we want to start fast but we didn’t play as good as we could have because we had a couple of turnovers. We really want to clean that up and step it up even more,” Saucier said.
The lead blossomed to 24 by the half, 32-8, with Sidney Anderson getting 10 of her game-high 20 points in the first half.
The 6-foot sophomore added five steals and three blocks.
“She’s a long perimeter player who has post skills because of her length. What makes her special is that she can dribble, she can shoot; she can guard all five spots. She’s a dynamic, next-level player,” Fleeton said.
The Centaurs had little to worry about in the second half as they bolted out of the gates again, scoring seven of the first nine points.
D’Alleva-Bochain had a pair of 3-pointers and finished with eight points. Monahan and Sarkis each pulled down six rebounds.
The schedule doesn’t get any easier.
In fact, it may get increasingly difficult with Fitch, Killingly, New London and Bacon Academy on the immediate horizon.
“We have a tough week with Fitch and Killingly coming up, but I think we’re ready,” Sarkis said.
Boys’ Basketball
Centaurs lose two heartbreakers but happy so far
Coach Donte Adams reflected back to last year when his Centaurs had just two wins at this juncture.
They have doubled that this season as they go into the second week of January with four wins in nine games.
“Definitely happy, but not satisfied and not content,” Adams said. “We could easily be 6-3. We’re still going through our growing pains. Hopefully, those end soon and we get over that hump. One thing I know for sure is that this group of guys is resilient and when we do get over the hump, the potential is scary. We just have to kick that door down.”
The goal is pretty simple, get to eight wins, and build on that in the state tournament to see what the team can do.
The Centaurs could have easily been two wins closer but suffered a pair of close losses in a three-game, four-day stretch.
Windham rallied to down the Centaurs in overtime and Cheney Tech hit a trio of fourth quarter 3-pointers that decided that game on Saturday.
Sandwiched in between was a nice win over the Plainfield Panthers.
It was a low-scoring affair in Manchester Saturday with the Beavers pulling out the 45-36 win.
But it was by design.
“We wanted to stop them from running and stop their baskets in transition. It worked in our favor to stay in the zone and make it a half-court game. They got a little frustrated,” Adams said.
The Centaurs were hampered a bit as junior center Brady Ericson was a bit sore after two games in the prior three days and his minutes and production were limited.
Woodstock held the lead early but a late 8-2 run by the Beavers pushed them ahead, 18-17, at the break.
Cheney Tech clung to a 30-28 lead at the end of three.
Mohamed Camara (13 points) hit two 3-pointers in the fourth and Damnic Gittens (21 points) added one to lift Cheney Tech to the win.
“We just have to find a way to score when we stop the opponents from scoring. The team that makes the last run wins and they made the last run,” Adams said.
The Centaurs were paced by Hunter Larson who finished with 12 points and Garrett Bushey who added 10.
Ericson was limited to seven points due to a little more time on the bench because of fatigue and fouls.
“We ask for a lot from Brady. We ask him to go out, play defense, rebound and score. That’s a lot,” Adams said. “As a result, he’s been dealing with a lot of double (teams). Teams are sending in two or three guys to box him out so after a while, you get a little banged up and he had two fouls early. We put him back out and he picked up his third so he really never got a feel for the game.”
Larson was the one who had the hot hand from the outside as the Woodstock senior buried four 3-pointers to lead the Centaurs to a 61-38 win over Plainfield the night before. Larson hit four of six from beyond the arc and finished with 21 points.
“Hunter stepped up and had a good night offensively and also had to guard one of their better players on the defensive end. He made some great reads off the pick-and-roll, took charge and had a great game,” Adams said.
Larson had three of those 3-pointers and 15 points in total in the first half as the Centaurs built a 10-point lead by halftime.
“He was efficient, Adams said. “The coaching staff has connected with him and he’s figured out where the shots that he is making are coming from. We’ve told him to know his areas and let him know where he’s making a high percentage of his shots from and he’s been listening and knocking them down.”
Six points by Ericson, who finished with a double-double 14 points and 16 rebounds, and a stingy defense which limited Plainfield to just five third quarter points saw that lead balloon to 20 by the end of the third quarter.
“(Ericson) helped us create space which allowed Hunter to get into the lane a bit. We felt if we spaced out Brady, it would open the floor for Hunter and Garrett. He caused a distraction for our guards to get inside and create for others but he also got a few breakaway dunks and deflections, he’s been doing a really good job in getting to the rim,” Adams said.
Cam Nason added eight points and T.J. Osborne seven for the Centaurs.
Earlier in the week, Larson (16 points) buried a 3-pointer with just one second left in regulation to tie the game and send Woodstock into its third overtime in its previous four games.
This one, however, would not go the Centaurs way as Windham rallied in the extra period and posted a 78-73 victory.
Anden Gonzalez (16 points) hit his second 3-pointer of the four-minute extra period to put the Whippets ahead to stay, 72-70, with a minute left.
After a Larson free throw cut the deficit to one, Anthony Green scored for Windham.
Malcolm Hunter, who finished with a game-high 31 points, added a pair of free throws and Gonzalez hit two more with 10 seconds left to put the game away.
“They can shoot it and they’re not afraid to shoot it,” Adams said. “They had a freshman (Gonzalez) who made some really big shots. Our focus was on one of their better players but this is a team game and he made some big 3’s when we really needed a stop.”
Ericson led the Centaurs (0-2 ECC Div. II) with 30 points, 15 rebounds and six blocks.
“That was a great night,” Adams said of Ericson’s performance. “He had almost 30 against them last year. He’s been having his way with them. He was really aggressive crashing the boards. We have an agreement, he can shoot 3’s as long as he is rebounding and he is doing so at a high rate on both the offensive and defensive boards.”
Boys’ Hockey
Sousa gets 100th career point
Senior Don Sousa scored his 100th career point on a goal in the third period of the Centaurs’ game with the Fairfield Warde/Fairfield Ludlowe Co-Op Wednesday.
Sousa became the second player in as many weeks to join the 100-point club.
“I started freshman year as a fifth-line scratch and I didn’t know what my high school career would consist of so to be here now at 100 points is just great. Obviously, the outcome of the game didn’t go the way we wanted it to, but it’s a great milestone and it was a great night overall,” Sousa said.
Unfortunately, Sousa’s career highlight did not come in a winning effort as Woodstock lost to the Fairfield Warde/Fairfield Ludlowe Co-Op, 6-4.
Sousa has plenty of company in the 100-point club.
Junior Maxx Corradi achieved the milestone last week at the Mt. St. Charles Tournament.
Noah Sampson did so a year ago.
“I was hoping to get it last week but it didn’t happen. I was hoping to get it (vs. Xavier) but finished one-point shy. So, I figured, ‘Why wait?’ and got it (vs. Fairfield Co-Op),” Sousa said. “I’ve put in a lot of work, especially into this year, but past years as well. There are a lot of guys who have been to the Academy, hit 100 points, and are now playing college hockey. You look up to those guys and it’s nice to realize that you now stand with them and people will now look up to you when they come here and play.”
Corradi scored two goals for Woodstock against the Fairfield Co-Op while Brady Lecuyer added a goal and an assist and Sampson also had an assist.
Earlier in the week, the Centaurs broke out to a three-goal lead in their home opener at the Jahn Ice Rink at Pomfret School but could not sustain the effort and lost to the Xavier Falcons, 5-4, in overtime.
Xavier (3-3) put together a 66-shot attack and three of them found the net in the third period to tie the game at four.
Senior Aidan Spring’s second goal of the game with just 1 minute, 6 seconds left in overtime gave the Falcons the come-from-behind win.
Sousa had a goal and two assists while Sampson and Corradi each added a goal and an assist.
Senior Alex Gessner had his first career goal for the Centaurs. Woodstock goalie Brady Hebert made 61 saves.
The losses dropped the Centaurs to 2-5 on the season.
“The record is looking kind of rough right now but we’ve seen glimpses of what this team can really do. We have to just stay in the system and play the way we have been in the first periods of games. We play good in the first and trail off in the second and third. If we could keep the (first period) mentality throughout the 45 minutes, it would be huge,” Sousa said.
The Centaurs have the remainder of the week off. They returned to the ice Tuesday in Burrillville (the game ended too late for this edition).
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
From left: Sophomore Sidney Anderson (14), playing defense against Amistad’s Isabella Barral, had a big night, scoring 20 vs. East Lyme. Photo by Marc Allard/Woodstock Academy. Sophomore guard Kaylee Saucier led the Centaurs with 14 points in a 46-21 win over Amistad. Photo by Sam Clark/Woodstock Academy. 6828- Senior Hunter Larson (3) confronts Windham’s Malcom Hunter Photo by Sam Clark/Woodstock Academy. Sophomore guard Isabel D’Alleva-Bochain brings the ball down the floor in a 46-21 win for the Centaurs over Amistad. Photo by Marc Allard/Woodstock Academy.Maxx Corradi (37) and Sam Desmond await the face off. Photo by Sam Clark/Woodstock Academy.
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