The Woodstock Academy girls’ basketball team hasn’t been all that bad at scoring points this season.
The team is averaging just under 44 points a game in its first five outings.
But it’s the defense that coach Will Fleeton has been pretty content with.
“We always talk about taking pride in our defense and we’ve really done that,” said senior Heather Converse.
The Centaurs are only allowing 31.8 points per game and that is the reason why they are off to a 4-1 start this season.
“I try to tell the kids that if they’re going to wear the WA logo on their jackets and shirts, they have to defend. If not, that WA doesn’t fit,” Fleeton said.
The logo has fit on most of the Centaurs this season.
Take this past week for example.
Woodstock Academy did not host a girls’ Christmas tournament, but got the same feeling by playing two teams that they don’t see on a normal basis in back-to-back games.
The Centaurs downed East Greenwich, R.I., last Thursday, 36-24, and followed that up with a 51-23 win over New Britain Friday.
In both cases, the Centaurs knew little about their opponents.
“The unknown is scary,” Fleeton said,” but the one thing that I felt confident with was if we played Woodstock ‘D’, we would be in the mix.”
His team delivered that.
The Avengers (2-3) had their troubles on Thursday.
East Greenwich, missing one of its starters due to illness, made only 3-of-22 from the field in the first half and scored only seven points.
“That was a goal to try and keep the 3-point shooting down. Without that shooter in the game, it made things a little easier but there were four or five of them that looked like they could stroke it. In the second quarter, I thought we were running them off the line, they weren’t even getting shots up from the perimeter. So that was a goal and I’m happy to hear those numbers,” Fleeton said.
Agreed, the Centaurs weren’t exactly shooting lights out themselves.
Woodstock Academy made only 5-of-18 from the floor in the first half.
“Coming back from Christmas break, we were all in the holiday mood. We just had to get back into the swing of things. I always look forward to coming back to basketball after Christmas,” Converse said.
The Centaurs broke out to a 9-0 lead in the first 4 ½ minutes of the game with Katie Papp (13 points) and Kayla Gaudreau stepping outside for 3-pointers early and Converse getting three points of her own in a more traditional way with a basket and a free throw.
The Papp-Converse connection combined for 21 of the Centaurs’ points.
“Whenever I have three people on me, I look for her. She’s always there and she is a great finisher. We have a really good connection,” Converse said of her fellow big in the Woodstock Academy lineup.
“I thought we attacked the rim pretty well,” Fleeton said. “We started the game hitting some jump shots which haven’t been with us for the last month or so or, at least, it seems that way. But we had a couple go in which gave us some confidence.”
The basket by Converse with 3:38 to play, however, was the last field goal until Aislin Tracey canned a 3-pointer with 5:38 left in the half. The Tracey basket was one of only two in the second quarter for the Centaurs. Peyton Saracina got the other with five seconds left to give Woodstock Academy the 17-7 halftime advantage.
The Centaurs dominated the inside in the second half with Papp scoring eight of her points, including 4-of-6 from the line, and Converse getting four of her eight.
“We had some great inside play with Papp and Converse, offensively, in the paint which made a difference. The guards did a nice job getting them the ball at the right time,” Fleeton said.
The story line was similar against the Hurricanes (1-5).
Woodstock Academy jumped out to the early 7-2 lead on a pair of layups layup from Marina Monrabal and Tracey and a 3-pointer by Gaudreau only to see New Britain, a Class LL program like the Centaurs, rally.
The Hurricanes closed to within two before Converse (11 points) scored at the buzzer to make it 11-7.
The Centaurs then played more of their suffocating defense in the second quarter.
New Britain made only one of its nine shots, turned the ball over seven times and missed a pair of free throws.
“We put so much stock in our defense that we hope it creates some opportunities for us,” Fleeton said.
Woodstock Academy took advantage by putting eight points up on the board, five of those by Converse, to take a 20-9 halftime advantage.
Papp scored six points in the third quarter and Converse added four in a 14-8 run in the third quarter.
Tracey finished it up by scoring seven of her game-high 13 points in the fourth quarter to seal the win for Woodstock Academy.
“Our defense created transition points that helped us extend the lead,” Fleeton said. “I was really proud of our defensive effort (against New Britain).”
The Centaurs get a little New Year’s holiday break. They don’t return to the floor until Jan. 4 when they host Norwich Free Academy in their first Eastern Connecticut Conference Division I game of the season at 7 p.m. at the Alumni Fieldhouse.
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director
The Woodstock Academy
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By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM --- "Not in Putnam" is the equivalent of sticking your head in the sand, according to Putnam School Superintendent William Hull.
Trauma is the number one health concern in the U.S. The Putnam school system and Generations Family Health Center recently joined forces to help Putnam's school children.
Generations has opened a behavioral healthcare location in Putnam High School.
In collaboration with the Putnam school system, the Generations Behavioral Health Services was expanded through the district's school-based Health Center into Putnam High. The program has already begun.
The clinic will only provide behavioral health care, according to Generations officials.
The Putnam students are not immune from that trauma that is a national trend.
"Kids are under a tremendous amount of pressure," Hull said. It's not just in Putnam but across the nation. The rise in anxiety and the lack of resilience shows how much trauma plagues children.
"This is a health epidemic," Hull said. "We wanted to be proactive."
Research, Hull said, points to the trauma of adverse childhood experiences affecting health issues even into adult life. In fact, if a child experiences four or more adverse childhood experiences then the odds of health issues developing even into adult life are "astronomical," he said. For example, experiencing four traumas as a child increases the risk of heart attacks some 50 percent.
Trauma includes things like divorce, food insecurity, drugs and alcohol abuse by a family member.
The stresses on today's kids includes the problems brought on by social media. "It's an instantaneous world. Kids can't handle that." Hull said.
While each student is unique, school officials can see some signs of concern in students including behavioral problems, poor grades and lack of communication.
Acting out is a form of communication, he said. "The kids that don't act out, don't communicate, are the kids that we're concerned about."
Recognizing the problems, the stress, Hull said the school district wanted to be proactive. They brought in evidence-based curriculum. Hull said that three other districts have already visited Putnam to take a look at what Putnam has done. "We see the same thing" others have said to Putnam school officials. "We'd like to pick your brain."
"We look at this Behavioral Health Service as another service for kids, just like tutors for studies." With behavioral services not only are the students better, but their grades go up.
According to Generations officials, students can be referred by school personnel (usually nurse, psychologist or social workers) by their PCP or medical management provider, by family or they can access services themselves if they feel the need. They need to call the PHS SBHC office for an appointment.
Generations officials said "Students today face a multitude of challenges caused by trauma and the complexities of modern society. Nationally one in five students in all schools have experienced some form of trauma that interferes with learning. The Putnam High School Based Health Center builds on a great relationship that already exists between Putnam Public Schools and Generations Family Health Center."
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PSA still
ranked #1
Last March the Putnam Science Academy Prep Mustangs captured their first National Prep Championship with a hard fought victory over Northfield Mount Hermon. Since then former Mustangs have gone onto to play college ball and a new wave of student athletes arrived at PSA looking to pull off the repeat.
So far, so good.
The Mustangs have won 42 straight headed into the winter break and remain ranked #1 in the country according to multiple prep basketball rankings including Prep Circuit’s recently updated rankings for December.
With newcomers like Wichita State commit Tyson Etienne, big man and Texas Tech commit Russel Tchewa and knock down shooter John Buggs III, who recently committed to UMass, the Mustangs have the depth and skill to bring home another National Prep Championship.
Head Coach Tom Espinosa, who picked up win #300 before the break improving his record at PSA to 300-73, has defined this year’s team simply with depth and athleticism. “We have a ton of depth; we can run 8 to 12 guys at teams and it’s something I don’t take for granted.”
A big help for this Mustang team has been leadership brought by a few returnees from last year’s championship team in guards Hassan Diarra and Demarr Langford. “We experienced winning it all last year and that was an amazing feeling but we’re not done” Diarra said with emphasis. “People wrote us off at the beginning of the year because of the pieces we lost last year but we can get it done man, we are a talented group and truly believe in what coach (Espinosa) preaches.”
The voice that has been heard the most from a player has actually been first-year guard at PSA Tyson Etienne. Etienne made a splash at the start of the season helping PSA grind out a nail biter in New Haven at the National Prep Showcase with an 85-82 overtime victory over Sunrise Christian Academy, who at the time were ranked #4 in the country. The versatile guard went on a 7-0 run by himself in the second half when PSA was trailing knocking down contested shots and getting to the basket at will.
Following a win at home versus Navy Prep, Etienne was named The Mustang Player of the Game. During the postgame interview, Tyson talked about the team going into the break surprisingly saying “I don’t think we’ve played our best basketball yet. That’s the scary thing.”
The Mustangs were 18-0 at the time.
“We still make little mistakes here and there but once we all get on the same page and get locked in, we are going to be one tough team to beat.” Etienne added: “When teams play us, they bring their best and we know this but we are just getting started. There’s a lot of talent on this team and I expect us to make more noise in the second half of the season.”
The Mustangs return from break and will host Redemption Christian Academy and Upperroom Christian Academy before going on the road for a tough test against Cushing Academy.
Josh Sanchas
Sports Information Director
Putnam Science Academy
Then
This is the Rotary Park bandstand with its new deck, standing ready for the giant ornament. Putnam Town Crier file photos.
& Now
This is the half-built ornament on the decking. After it is assembled completely, it will be illuminated on Jan. 1. It will stay in the park through the Fire and Ice celebration in February and then return for the 2019 holiday season.