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By Ron P. Coderre
The biggest news of the week centered on two major players who hadn’t seen much action during the current boys’ and girls’ basketball season. From the distaff side of the ledger, Charlotte and on the male side Nemo, created the biggest news as the snow they dropped forced the postponement of all games scheduled for Friday and Saturday, while paralyzing the entire region.
The postponements are certain to play havoc with the conclusion of regular season schedules, which are in the final weeks of play as teams prepare for the postseason or for the collection of uniforms. Putnam, which lost to Griswold, is 3-13 with four games remaining. They are joined by the women’s teams of Ellis Tech (1-17), Killingly (2-17) and Tourtellotte (3-15), all which are mathematically eliminated. The Woodstock Academy Lady Centaurs (7-12) are hinging their hopes to the fact that they must win the final contest on their dance card against Killingly if they wish to play some more this season.
The teams assured of moving on to conference tournaments and the States are coach Bob Arremony’s Plainfield Panthers (11-5) and Tony Falzarano’s Tourtellotte Tigers (9-8). The Plainfield ladies are the only local female team moving on to the Eastern Connecticut Conference tourney, while coach Willie Bousquet’s Lady Clippers (13-5) have secured a berth in the CSC tournament, although they’re keeping their collective fingers crossed that they don’t draw powerful Capital Prep.
In the prep ranks the Pomfret, Marianapolis and Hyde-Woodstock ladies all appear ready to move to play beyond the regular season schedule. Coach Andrew Vitale’s Marianapolis Golden Knights continue to impress at 17-4 after posting wins over REDA and Christian Heritage. Putnam Science Academy, which started slowly, is 16-8 following a trifecta this week. The Mustangs racked up victories over KISKI, Masters and McDuffie.
With the regular season scheduled to wrap up this week the fortunate are getting ready for the “second season” while the unfortunate will be taking uniform inventory and putting the ‘unis’ in moth balls.
Scoring Races
Plainfield’s Morgan Griffin with 63 points in two games not only propelled her over the 1000 point plateau but also increased her lead and margin in the race for scoring honors. Griffin checks in this week at 18.3 points per game with three regular season games remaining on the Lady Panthers schedule. She holds a less than two-point lead over second-place scorer, Ashley Espinosa of Putnam, who stands at 16.7 points per game. Hyde-Woodstock’s Janicha Diaz remains in third place at 14.9 ppg., while Pomfret’s Morgan Olander is fourth with 13.5 points per game.
A dramatic change took place in the 3-point field goal race. Jill Bodreau of Marianapolis riding a hot shooting streak has moved ahead of Putnam’s Monica Phongsa who’s been on top of the heap all season. Bodreau has 36 treys, while Phongsa is at 28.
For the first time since the start of the season there’s a new leader on top of the men’s scoring parade, as Dayshon Smith of Putnam Science Academy edged past Woodstock’s Ian Converse for the top spot. Smith checks in at 20.5 points per contest, while Converse drops down to the third slot at 20.2. Sandwiched between Smith and Converse is Tourtellotte’s Kaevon Safford at 20.4 in a tightly packed leader board. Plainfield’s Ryan Pambuku remains in fourth place followed by Pomfret’s Isaiah Henderson in fifth.
Jonte Rutty of PSA stretched his lead in the three point shooting race with 70 goals from beyond the arc. He holds a 23-goal lead over his teammate Smith who checked in with 47. Pambuku elbowed his way into third with 47, slipping past Killingly’s Devon Willard who has 45 treys. Mike Jezierski of Tourtellotte coming off a 7-11 performance from three point land against Griswold is now in fifth place with 42 from beyond the arc.
Boys' Scoring Leaders
Dayshon Smith, PSA 20.5
Kaevon Stafford, Tourtellotte 20.4
Ian Converse, Woodstock 20.2
Ryan Pambuku, Plainfield 18.3
Isaiah Henderson, Pomfret 17.9
Three-Point Leaders
Jonte Rutty, PSA 70
Dayshon Smith, PSA 47
Ryan Pambuku, Plainfield 46
Devon Willard, Killingly 45
Mike Jezierski, Tourtellotte 42
Girls' Scoring Leaders
Morgan Griffin, Plainfield 18.3
Ashley Espinosa, Putnam 16.7
Janicha Diaz, Hyde-Woodstock 14.9
Morhan Olander, Pomfret 13.5
Three-Point Leaders
Jill Bodreau, Marianapolis 36
Monica Phongsa, Putnam 28
Notes
Woodstock’s overtime loss at the hands of Bacon Academy in Colchester on “Military Night” saw the Centaurs plummet in the statewide ranking polls. The New Haven Register Media Poll still had the Acads in the Top 25 although they dropped from 12th last week to 21st in the latest poll. The Hartford Courant Schoolboy Poll, which ranks only 10 teams removed Woodstock from the Top Ten… Ashley Espinosa appears to be facing the end of her high school hoop career with a fury. After posting 28 points last week in a win over Ellis Tech, Espinosa posted a double-double (22 points – 13 rebounds) in a 47-32 win over Windham Tech in a CSC East contest …The Plainfield ladies with Morgan Griffin driving the bus clinched the ECC Small Division regular season title with its latest win over Tourtellotte …Woodstock Academy welcomed point guard Chris Lowry back with open arms. Lowry returned to action with a splint on his injured right thumb after the cast was removed. Lowry combined with Ian Converse for 33 points in a win over Norwich Free Academy …The Woodstock win over NFA clinched the top regular season spot in the Large Division for the Centaurs …In a game reminiscent of the former Quinebaug Valley Conference contest Tourtellotte edged Plainfield in a tight game. The win clinched at least a tie in the ECC Small Division for the Tigers …When Putnam’s Tyler Genest hit eight three pointers against Griswold he became the Clippers individual game record holder in that department. He finished the evening with 27 points …Prep/High School News & Notes will return in two week following a respite in Florida.
RPC’s Super Conference Standings
Boys:
Marianapolis 17-4
PSA 17-8
Woodstock 14-2
Plainfield 11-6
Pomfret 8-8