By Ron P. Coderre

Girls’ basketball season traditionally begins a week prior to the boys’ schedule because of another tradition, Thanksgiving Day football games.  A full slate of prep and high school female contests dotted the early season calendar last week. 

The preps squeezed in pre-holiday tournaments before taking a break.  The high schools started the regular season schedule and will roll into the holiday tournament mode next week.

Pomfret School hosted the New England Basketball Classic and split four games.  Marianpolis exited the tourney with a win, while the Hyde-Woodstock Wolfpack finished its week at 1-1.

The Putnam Lady Clippers, after dropping their opener, enjoyed a pair of wins, moving to 2-1 on the season and a perfect 2-0 in the Constitution State Conference.  Tourtellotte also enjoying early success raised its record to 2-1 with an easy win over Lyman.  Plainfield and Killingly each picked up victories, while Woodstock and Ellis Tech suffered through winless weeks.

Putnam Off to Surprising 2-1 Start

The Putnam Lady Clippers of second-year coach Mandi Hogan is a young squad.  The team features only one senior, Lynsay Dashnaw and a bevy of younger players.  Despite its youth, Putnam picked up a pair of Constitution State Conference victories in last week’s competition.  

In a 33-20 victory over Holy Family Academy both teams started cold with the Lady Clippers taking an 11-4 lead into half time.  Putnam warmed up in the second half behind sophomore Alyssa Espinosa, who had 11 and 11 rebounds to pace the team’s first win of the young season.  Alyssa Frederick chipped in eight points and 10 boards.

Putnam came back strongly in its next contest, eclipsing Grasso Tech 46-28 behind another explosive offensive showing by Espinosa, who posted 18 points in capturing game-high honors.

Tourtellotte entertained Lyman in a game that was closely contested in the first half before the Lady Tigers ran away with a 58-35 victory behind the duo of Allie Ablondi and Abby Poirier.  Ablondi was game-high scorer with 21 markers, while Poirier added 14 and Emily Vincent and Jess Dodd chipped in nine and eight points respectively.

Junior Megan Bianchi, picking up where she left off last season, posted a pair of 20 point games as Killingly bested Griswold 61-37 and lost to New London 47-37 to go to 1-2 on the season.  Karissa Slowik (15 points) and Reagan Morin (10) were also in double figures for the Redgals in the win over Griswold.  Bianchi was the Redgals lone offense in the loss to New London.

Plainfield opened its week with a 62-40 trouncing of Lyman before falling in a nail biter to Waterford 60-57.  The contest with Waterford was close throughout with a late Plainfield fourth quarter rally falling just short.  Julie Jordan with 27 points captured game-high honors.  She was joined in double digits by Madeline L’Orange with 11 points.  In the win over Lyman Jordan posted 21 points and Adrienne L’Orange had 13 for the 2-2 Lady Panthers.

Woodstock and Ellis Tech each were 0-2 for the week.  The 1-2 Lady Centaurs were dropped by Ledyard 53-36 and Norwich Free Academy 77-18.  The Ellis Tech Lady Eagles appear to be in for a long season following a 53-5 (that’s correct five points the entire game) loss to Parish Hill and a 47-15 defeat at the hands of Derby.  Ellis Tech is 0-4 on the young season.

New England Basketball Classic Highlights Prep Action

Pomfret School hosted the two-day New England Basketball Classic and walked away from its tournament with two wins and a pair of losses.  The Lady Griffins played shorthanded with three of their mainstays out, hampered by illness or nagging injuries.

Pomfret opened and closed with Choate-Rosemary, splitting the two contests.  The hosts took the opener 31-28 behind 17 points from Deja Ross and lost the final contest 33-30 in a game that was close throughout.  Ross was high scorer again with nine markers for the 4-4 Lady Griffs.

Sandwiched between the Choate-Rosemary games was a 57-29 loss to Berkshire Academy and a 51-27 victory over Kent School.  In the Berkshire contest, Rebecca Erosa was the top scorer for Pomfret with nine points, while Cassie Hayward and Alyzae Davis each dropped in eight points.  Ross rebounded strongly in the win over Kent with an outstanding 23-point performance.  She was helped offensively by Erosa who added 14 markers.

Rachel Aho, who is headed to Providence College next year, led Marianapolis V1 to a 58-45 win over Choate-Rosemary in a tournament contest.  Aho registered 19 points and corralled 10 caroms for the 2-2 Lady Knights.

Hyde-Woodstock opened its week with a narrow 44-43 loss at the hands of Providence Country Day.  Hyde’s one-two punch of Trayniece Mims and Doussou Ndiaye were in double figures with 24 and 14 points respectively.  The Wolfpack bounced back with a 52-39 victory over Bancroft School to raise its record to 3-3 overall and 1-2 in the SENE.  Mims exploded for 34 points to lead the Hyde charge.  Ndiaye added 13, as the duo remains the area’s most powerful offensive pair.

 

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