Roundup
Centaurs get 1st win
of season in girls’ hockey
Woodstock Academy pulled away with three goals in the third period to score a 6-2 girls ice hockey win over the Shoreline Sharks club team Feb. 21 at the Northford Ice Pavilion.
It was the first victory of the season for the Centaurs who are now 1-1.
“It was awesome,” said first-year head coach Maddy Millar. “The girls played so hard. They were aggressive, battled and earned every single goal.”
The two teams battled to a scoreless tie until midway through the second period when junior Sydney Haskins took a pass from classmate Bella Chaves and found the net for a 1-0 lead.
The Sharks rallied to tie the game just about a minute and a half later but Woodstock Academy got a boost from its middle schoolers to take the lead.
Juliana Buoniconti and Alex Lee both scored before the end of the period and Maci Corradi added a goal in the third period to put the Centaurs up, 4-1.
Chaves would get a goal of her own before assisting on a second goal by Haskins to conclude the Centaurs scoring.
Prep: Blue Squad Wins
Nomar Tejada sat on the bench and waited his turn for the Woodstock Academy Blue prep basketball team Feb. 20. But he took advantage when that chance came.
The 6-foot, 1-inch guard from the Dominican Republic started the second half and scored all 12 of his points in the first 6 minutes, 15 seconds to help the Centaurs pull away from South Kent and post a 74-48 win over the Cardinals. The win evened the Centaurs record at 1-1.
South Kent hit a pair of 3-pointers early to take the 8-2 lead to start the game, but Kyle Alcy scored six of his 10 points to help the Centaurs take an 11-10 lead.
The game was tied at 19 when Mark Heber hit the second of his three 3-pointers in the game. Alcy and D’Amonte Johnson added baskets and the Centaurs held a 27-20 lead at the break.
Jake Hlywiak (13 points) opened the second half with a 3-pointer for South Kent, but it was the only basket for the Cardinals in the first 6 ½ minutes of the second half.
Heber hit a 3-pointer and Alcy followed with his last bucket of the game to set the stage for Tejada.
The guard hit a 3-pointer, had a traditional three-point play, had two more baskets and a pair of free throws in a 25-0 run for the Centaurs.
It’s been tough to find that rhythm for everyone in a season of starts and stops due to the pandemic.
Milo Scheve picked up where Tejada left off as the 6-7 post from New York, N.Y., scored all 10 of his points in the second half as well.
Prep: Gold Falls to S. Kent
The news was not so good for the Woodstock Academy Gold prep basketball team against South Kent.
The Cardinals came out on fire, hitting 11 3-pointers in the first half and used that to build a 21-point lead by halftime.
The Centaurs could never catch up and fell, 85-67, Feb. 20.
“They are a team that shoots a ton of 3’s and we knew that coming in. I thought our traps were kind of soft, we let people out which creates close outs. I think we have to do a better job of trapping the ball and our kids didn’t settle in. I think we were nervous. The last time we played, I wasn’t here,” said Woodstock Academy coach Jacque Rivera.
Rivera missed the Notre Dame-West Haven contest two weeks before due to the birth of his second child.
The Centaurs did claw back.
A 13-2 run to open the second half cut the deficit to 10 and Woodstock Academy got it down to eight, 61-53, after a Dominic Strothers 3-pointer with 11:46 left in the game.
It takes a lot of energy to come back from 21 down.
Strothers paced the Centaurs with 23 points.
Julian Soumaoro added 15 points, all coming in the second half, while Dashon Gittens tossed in 14.
Boys; Basketball: Centaurs Beat Windham
Woodstock Academy didn’t take long to get its season rolling in a good direction.
The Centaurs made 12-of-14 from the floor in the first quarter Feb. 20 which resulted in 30 points.
It was a fast start that resulted in an 88-63 win over the Whippets in the season opener for both teams.
“We’re thrilled to get out there and play some basketball. That first quarter really got the ball rolling for us,” said Woodstock Academy coach Marty Hart.
The Whippets, traditionally, are a guard-oriented team and Hart said that is the case again this season.
Thus, the Centaurs were able to get the ball inside and used their height advantage especially that of 6-6 forward Dmitrii Zinchenko. Zinchenko led five Woodstock Academy players in double figures with 18 points. Guard Parker Anderson added 15 points.
Andrew Johnson, Ethan Davis, and Logan Talbot all scored 13 points apiece.
It may have taken awhile for the Centaurs to play the first game of the season.
The rest will come quickly.
Girls’ Basketball: Fall to Windham
Crosscourt passes are great when they work. But when they don’t, they can result in easy baskets for the opposition.
Such was the case for the Woodstock Academy girls’ basketball team Feb. 20 as errant passes cost it in a 47-24 season-opening loss to Windham.
“I think there is an adjustment at this level for some kids where, maybe at the JV, freshman or eighth-grade levels, those crosscourt passes are available but they are not (at the varsity level),” said Woodstock Academy coach Will Fleeton said. “I think it’s a learning experience, making a mistake, and learning from it at the varsity pace and speed.”
Windham took advantage of those passes to get a host of baskets in transition, especially in the second half, to pick up the win.
The Centaurs hung with the Whippets in the first half despite scoring just three first quarter points.
The Centaurs woke up in the second to scored nine points including a 3-pointer from freshman Reegan Reynolds to cut the deficit to six, 18-12, at the half.
But the Centaurs failed to come out of the locker room.
Alex Cloutier had a basket 35 seconds into the second half, but it was one of only two buckets the Centaurs would get in the third quarter.
Windham, meanwhile, got six points each from Sienna Ortiz and Ady Gonzalez (two 3-pointers) to take a 37-16 lead.
Junior Aurissa Boardman led the Centaurs with six points.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy

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caption, page 3:

Celebration
Putnam Science Academy basketball teammates help Yamani McCollough, #1, celebrate her 1,000th career point. Courtesy photo.

McCollough
scores 1,000th
career point
The Putnam Science Academy  girls’ basketball teams had a get together Feb. 21 to celebrate Yamani McCollough, who scored her 1,000th career point earlier in the day.
“It was real funny,” said teammate Sade Young, “because a lot of the younger kids were sitting around talking about how many points they had last game and how many they have in their career now, and talking about ‘I hope I can get 1,000 points someday.’ It’s a big number and it’s a celebration for a reason.”
McCollough played her first three years of high school ball at Notre Dame-Fairfield—– where she scored 973 points — before transferring to PSA for this, her senior season. She dropped 18 in the Mustangs’ season-opening win Feb. 11, leaving her nine short heading into Feb. 21.
She got seven in the first quarter and actually had a chance for the magic numbers, but her layup at the buzzer went astray, leaving her teammates waiting to celebrate just a little longer. With just over a minute gone by in the second quarter though, McCollough inbounded along the baseline to teammate Ciara Bailey in the short corner, then raced to the same corner and got the ball back from Bailey. McCollough put it up from behind the 3-point line, and when it swished through the net, the celebration was on.
“Honestly, it feels amazing,” she said. “People in my family have scored 1,000 points and it feels amazing to be part of that club. I’ve worked hard, and during the shutdown I really spent a lot of time working on parts of my game that I felt were weaknesses. And to get the opportunity to do this during a pandemic, I’m grateful, really. I appreciate that I got to score my 1,000th point because it would have hurt to know that I’m this close and then, just because, it gets taken away.”
The game was stopped after the make, and McCollough was presented with a game ball, flowers and balloons, and a commemorative PSA sweatshirt before posing for pictures with her teammates and coaches.
Then she went out and scored 10 more points in the quarter, giving her 20 for the half; she finished the game with 21 to go with six assists in the Mustangs’ 82-23 rout of Cheshire Academy.
“That’s the thing I love most about playing with her, she plays hard all the time,” Young said. “She needed nine points and got it, but she kept playing hard and pressuring on defense and getting steals and finished with 21. In a 40-point game, she already had the 1,000, she’s playing way up trying to get steals. That’s how she is, she just plays like every game is her last.”
Said assistant coach Jasmyne Fogle: “She always plays hard, always plays aggressively at both ends of the floor. She’s quick, she’s athletic, and she gets hot and can score a lot of points quickly, obviously.”
As for the game itself, it wasn’t much of one. The Mustangs dominated throughout, holding Cheshire without a field goal until early in the fourth quarter. Bailey matched McCollough’s 21 points and also pulled down seven rebounds, Kristina Goncharuk had 13 points, Fatim Sarr Ndow had seven points and nine rebounds, and Sade Young added seven points, six assists, and three steals for the Mustangs (2-0).
Stephen Nalbandian
Sports Information Director
Putnam Science Academy

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The following charges were listed in the Putnam Police Department logs.  The people charged are innocent until proven guilty in court. The Town Crier will publish dispositions of cases at the request of the accused. The dispositions must be accompanied by the proper documentation. The Putnam Police Department confidential Tip Line is 860-963-0000.
Feb. 8
Kyle Chatelle Jr., 35, River Street, Danielson; assault on emergency medical personnel, disorderly conduct.
Feb. 9
Kelvin Rodrigues Montes, 30, Phillips Street, Putnam; disorderly conduct.
Feb. 12
Justin Corttis, 31, Corttis Road, N. Grosvenordale; operating under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs.
Mathew Hajder, 31, Hartford Pike, Dayville; first-degree failure to appear, criminal violation of a protective order, first-degree criminal trespass, first-degree criminal mischief.

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