Lady pg 9 3-22-12
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- Category: Past Issues
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Lady Clippers
The 2011-12 Putnam High School girls' basketball team. Courtesy photo.
By Ron P. Coderre
When basketball season started in early December Putnam girls’ basketball coach Willie Bousquet was wondering just how well his team would do this year. The loss of two key players left the veteran mentor searching for pieces of a puzzle to make this season successful.
Bousquet who over the years has proven to be a very good coach, is also a very good teacher and tactician. Over the years he’s served as an able assistant in the boys’ basketball program and resurrected a struggling PHS softball program and turned it into a State champion. He takes his work with youngsters seriously.
This season Bousquet worked his magic once again, when he took an essentially inexperienced team and taught them how to compete and how to win. Putting the pieces of the puzzle in the right places he led the Lady Clippers to a 16-7 overall record and a 9-3, third-place finish in the CSC East. The team eventually made it to the CSC semi-finals before falling to a strong Capital Prep team.
The team’s 15-5 regular season record placed them 8th in the Class S seeding. Hosting a first-round game the Lady Clippers fell to a rugged East Windsor High School unit.
The team was led by a junior sharp shooter Ashley Espinosa, who was one of the area’s top scorers, averaging more than 15 points a contest. It was however the workmanlike play of three seniors that won many games for Bousquet and his charges.
Center Christie Austin, who came back this season after missing her junior year to an injury, was the team’s leading rebounder. Holly Desrosiers was the team’s scrappy defender, often drawing the assignment of guarding the opponent’s top scorer. Megan Heaney was the team’s utility player fulfilling any role Bousquet asked her to perform. Combined, the trio was the glue that gave the younger players the fortitude to step up when necessary.
In addition to the winning record the Lady Clippers boasted of victories over Tourtellotte, Wheeler and New London of the Eastern Connecticut Conference. The ladies also made to the finals of the Citizens National Bank Clipper Classic, bowing to Killingly. And they count their CSC quarterfinals win over Wilcox Tech as another highlight.
Individually, Austin and Espinosa made the Clipper classic all star team and Heaney earned tourney all-academic honors. Espinosa was a first team all-league CSC East selection and Austin was an honorable mention.
As with all Bousquet coached teams, this year’s edition also has some community service accomplishments on its scorecard. The team hosted its fifth Father-Daughter Dance for girls grades five through eight and their dads. More than 100 girls and dads attended. The girls also honored an ailing bus driver with an “orange night” for hope and turned in a victory over Holy Name on Senior Night.
“These young ladies worked hard all season. They never gave up and always gave us hope that we could win every game,” said Bousquet.
Looking to the future, coach Bousquet notes that there are 19 players returning from the varsity and junior varsity squads. Among the returnees is Espinosa, who should continue to provide offensive spark. Also being counted on heavily is point guard and defensive stalwart Monica Phongsa and long range shooter Abby Allard.
If the returners pay attention in coach Bousquet’s basketball classroom they should improve on this season’s performance.