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The Woodstock Academy girls’ basketball team passed another test on Saturday. The young Centaurs found themselves in a pitched battle with Amistad as the Wolves put down the first two baskets of the final quarter to climb within a point.
The Centaurs scored the next 12 points and posted a 51-38 win over Amistad to raise their record to 2-1 on the season.
“Every minute, no matter what is happening whether it’s positive or negative, is a learning opportunity for my youngsters. We got off to a decent lead and they came back, so there was a little struggle there. The pressure got on a little bit and that’s stuff that we will carry with us and, hopefully, be able to manage in a game in the future because of this one,” said coach Will Fleeton.
Forward Eva Monahan scored seven of her 13 points in the first quarter but got into a little foul trouble and wouldn’t score again until the final quarter. The forward hit a pair of free throws to put the Centaurs back up by three early in the fourth quarter and then added a pair of baskets to make it a seven-point, 41-34, advantage with 6 minutes, 7 seconds to play.
Freshman point guard Kaylee Saucier scored 13 of her team-high 15 points in the second and third quarters to keep the Centaurs ahead.
Earlier quite a few players had strong performances in a 51-27 win over non-league foe, Tolland.
The ball just wouldn’t fall for the Centaurs in the first quarter but there was a silver lining to the slim 10-6 lead. Woodstock took 20 shots compared to just seven for the Eagles (0-1).
“We were getting (the ball) inside, we just weren’t getting dividends from it,” Fleeton said. That changed in the second quarter.
The Centaurs scored 11 of the first 12 points including a 3-pointer by Saucier to open a 21-7 lead.
Tolland did come back a bit in the final 2 ½ minutes of the half, getting all four of its made baskets in that time span to cut the deficit to eight, 23-15, at the break.
But things truly came together in the third quarter. Sophia Sarkis scored 30 seconds into the quarter off an assist from Monahan.
After a Tolland miss, Monahan was on the receiving end of a no-look pass from Saucier and, after a Tolland turnover, returned the favor with a nice dish to Sarkis.
The Centaurs clicked off 13 of the first 15 points in the second half to double up the score on the Eagles, 34-17.
The Centaurs extended that lead to 20-plus by late in the quarter and never led by less.
Monahan finished with 17 points to lead the Centaurs to the win. Saucier finished with 13 points while Sarkis added 12.
Freshman Isabel D’Alleva-Bochain had three 3-pointers in her high school debut and finished with 13 points in the season opener early in the week for the Centaurs but the inside-outside punch of host Coventry proved to be too much as the Patriots prevailed, 49-32,
Forward Jianna Foran scored 20 points and guard Charlotte Jordan added 19 to lead Coventry to the win on its home floor. Leila MacKinnon added six points for the Centaurs while Saucier tossed in five.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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