The 2008 edition of 16 Red kicked off our season with an impressive 4-0 showing at the New England College Showcase in Warwick, Rhode Island. The team ratched up it's offense as we averaged 64.25 points per game.......don't get too carried, we also gave up nearly 50 points per game on the defensive end (did anyone say rebounding drills for Wednesday night ?!?!?). Overall, it was a positive start after a positive first month of solid practices.
       Our journey began Saturday as we faced the Boston Heat who, according to their website, have over an 80% winning percentage in this team's 5 year existence together and came into the game 6-0 on the season. The Starters team used this as fuel to quickly get off to a 22-9 start and a 43-34 halftime lead. After a strong comeback by the Heat, the team again established our "attack" mode offense and pulled away with a resounding 74-61 win. Kat Woods (Northwest Regional HS) led the way with 20 points, while Taylor Nkonoki (Middletown HS) and Cassie Novicky (New Milford HS) both added 10 points. It was a very good opening performance.
       Our second game Saturday saw us play the always tough CT Breeze-Blue team and a team that featured a few former Starters players and head coach. We jumped out to a quick 20-9 lead and continued to execute offensively throughout to come away with a 69-48 victory. Novicky again was a leader offensively with 17 points, while Clare Fitzpatrick (Canterbury School) tallied 14 on the day and the sharpshooter, Elisha Homich (Ludlow HS-Mass) shot 7 for 8 and finished the game with 15 points. More importantly, we also competed on both ends of the floor against a solid, well-coached team.
       Sunday morning brought the arrival of a concept 16 Red struggled with on Saturday.......32 minutes of team defense! Playing against the sklled NH Lady Bombers, Starters held our opponents from the north to 30 points and after a sluggish start on the offensive end, we put things together for another solid 51-30 triumph. The trio of Fitzpatrick, Homich, and Novicky paced the team with 33 points total while the ENTIRE TEAM PLAYED OUTSTANDING DEFENSE :).
       Our finale on Sunday was another hard fought game against the CMAC Hawks which found 16 Red barely holding onto a 41-36 lead before finally freeing ourselves of the pesky Hawks with a 22-10 run to finish the game and the tournament for a 63-46 victory. Chantel Alford (Wilbur Cross HS) led the squad with 15, while Kristyn Wright (East Catholic HS) led the team with 6 assists and 4 steals to go with 4 points. Additionally, we received key contributions from Paxton Thornton (Housatonic Regional HS) who chipped in with 10 points and 8 rebounds and Sam Riccio (Avon HS) who finished with 9 points, 4 steals, and 3 assists. Another good team win. We now pack our bags for a "wonderful' 7 plus hour bus ride to face some still national competition at the Blue Chip College Invitational Showcase in Richmond, Virginia. Nice job girls, but now we need to turn things up even more!

       16 Blue at Rhode Island Breakers Tourney
       First game versus Team Ct. The team came out hitting on all cylinders as the Laura?s (Dulla and Neff) both hit their first two jumpers. The good shooting continued as the Blue shot 40 percent in the first half and led 23-14. Shardae Brown from Waterbury picked up the scoring un the second half as she dropped in all seven of her points as the Blue won a nailbiter 37-35. Laura Neff finished with 10 points and Dulla had 9 and Britttney Huffman had 5 points and 3 steals. Emily Savino contributed with 5 points and 3 assists. Highlight - Dayishma Jackson from Manchester had an explosive post move blowing by her defender for an easy two.
       Game 2 versus Team Mass. Apparentely the Blue thought we only played one game a day because they started the game with no energy at all. Luckily the other team was cold and with 6 minutes left in the first half it was 7 to 7. The Blue was up 17 to 11 at half led by Huffman with 4 points, and Neff with 4 points. Halftime speech was quick and to the point, bring up the energy level and it worked. The Blue started off the second half on a 10 nothing run led by Ellie Kleinhans (East Lyme), Shardae Brown and Emily Savino (Ellington) whose 3 took all air out of Team Ct. After a 30% shooting first half; the second half was scorching as the Blue shot 55% and won 42-29. The defensive intensity was led by Emily Walker (East Lyme) with 3 blocks and 6 rebounds all in the second half. Highlight was the Laura Connection as Neff found Dulla on a pretty feed for an easy layup.
       Game 3 versus Maine Hoops. They came out pressing and The Blue was not ready for the intensity, as Maine jumped out to an early 8 point lead. Turnovers were early and often, and combined with lousy shooting (24%) the Blue was down 14 at the half. The shooting woes continued as open shots were missed and the Maine team shot 65% in the second half to thwart the comback. One positive was the free throw shooting as Dayshima Jackson shot 6 for 6 in the game and the team was 8-9 overall. Huffman and Neff had 11 and 9 respectively, Kleinhans had 6 and two very nice hustle plays on defense and Jackson had 6 points. Maggie Riddle (Cheshire) decided to join us after taking on the challenge of a perfect score on her ACT?s and Julie Auman (Somers) decided that going to Spain was better than playing in Rhode Island, go figure. Special props to Katie VanGilst (Lewis Mills) who is injured but has handled her assistant coaching duties very well.
       Game 4 versus Cheetahs. Shot 50% in the first half but down by 3 points. Everything the Cheetahs threw up went in. The Neff and Dulla connection combined for 8 first half points. The Cheetahs remained hot shooting 47% in the second half, however the Blue shot 35% and lost 45-40. Emily Savino (Ellington) dropped in 2 threes and Emily Walker (East Lyme) showed up with 7 second half points, nevertheless the Blue fell to 2-2 for the weekend. Next stop Richmond Virginia.

       Warwick , Rhode Island
       The 15 Red started off the 2008 season against a very talented Bay State Magic team. The Starters were outmatched underneath and fell behind quickly with a half-time score of 26-14. The second half improved and we actually tied the opponent offensively. Unfortunately, the damage was done and the hole we dug was too deep to get out of in time. Lindsay Karle led the scoring with 12 pts. and Sara Kelley chipped in with 8 pts.
       The Starters faced the WBA Knicks for game number two. Again, the Starters were the smaller team by far, but the boxing out seemed to be improving. The second half started with the Knicks leading by 6 points. Damika Martinez was strong offensively scoring 10 points and Reynesha Archer had seven points. However, the offense was not enough and the Knicks outscored the Starters by ten in the second half. The lead got down to ten with about 8 minutes to go, but the Starters were not able to execute enough to get the deficit in single digits. Brenna Verre did an excellent job maintaining composure offensively and defensively had some nice steals. The final score was 57-38.
       Sunday started off with game number 3 against the New Hampshire Shooting Stars. It appeared that things may turn for the Starters in that game. Hayley Currie started off strong scoring her first basket, but then went down with a rolled ankle. Elise Chase also started off strong with some key rebounds but, unfortunately went down with a mild concussion. Now the Starters are down to six players with a little over a half to go. Lindsey Karle stepped up and led the team by scoring 22 points. Caroline Brassa came up strong offensively also scoring 10 and Reynesha Archer and Damika Martinez both scored 8 pts. The Starters fought hard but ran out of gas and lost by three 54-51. It was a great team effort, but we still fell short. We had one more chance to come out on top!
       The final game on Sunday night at 6:30 was against the CT Breeze. The returning players were face to face with their coach from last year, but now he was on the side of the opponent. The Starters came out strong and really started to work as a team. We had the lead of 25-21 going into the second half. Megan Reynolds had a very strong first half with 6 points and several rebounds. Elise Chase did not score but, did a nice job on the boards both offensively and defensively. It was a great game that ended with the Starters winning the first game of the season by three, 47-44. The scoring was led by Reynesha Archer, Damika Martinez, and Lindsay Karle each with nine, Caroline Brassa with eight, and Brenna Verre with six.
       Although we finished the weekend 1-3, there were a lot of good things that occurred through the games. Every game improved from the previous one and that is great to see as coaches. We appreciate the hard work from you all and hope that the injuries are healing.

       Weaver High School was the setting for the 2nd straight weekend, but this time our results were much different.
       Our first game was against the Middlesex Rage and we held a slim 16-11 lead at the half. In the 2nd half our intensity picked up and our shots started to fall from inside and out. Strong work from the inside trio of AJ Levy (Meriden), Emily Durocher (Southington) and Gabriella DeSisto (Hamden) gave us a lot of second chance opportunities and we were fortunate enough to score on many of them. Kristen Van Gilst (Harwington, two 3’s) and AJ led us with 10 pts each and Emily chipped in with 7. Final Score Starters 37-27.
       Our 2nd game was supposed to be against the NY Pride, but unfortunately, they never showed and we won the game by forfeit.
       The CT Cougars were next up and we controlled the game from start to finish as our full court man and match-up zone gave them all sorts of problems. This was a total team effort and the scoring was well balanced amongst the girls. Brianna McClelland (Glastonbury) stepped up and attacked the basket strong each and every time! Meghan McLaughlin (Southington) led us in scoring (14) and steals and Kristen chipped in with 12 (two 3’s). The Final Score Starters 50-21.
       The last game of the weekend was against the Middlesex Rage U12 team and they gave us a tremendous battle from start to finish. To the Rage’s credit, they took us out of our game plan for much of the game due to their constant pressure. However, as the game went on we started to find our groove; as Kayleigh Shaughnessy (Enfield) AJ and Emily controlled the boards on both ends of the floor. Hannah Richards (Enfield , 6 pts) and Ashley Petrarca (Woodbury, 4 pts) made some key baskets during the stretch run to close the game. The final Score Starters 37-27. Kristen and AJ led us with 10 pts apiece.
       Notes: We wish Haley Donahue a speedy recovery!

       11 Red started their season against a talented Middlesex Rage team. We found ourselves down early but fought back to be down 5 at the half. In the second half we went down by 11 and fought back with tough defense. We cut the lead to three but time ran out. We lost 34-31. Our offense was led by Caroline Teti (Torrington) and Kelsey Clemens (Plainville) both with 8 points. Michaela Marcus (Avon) added 6, and Sarah Thompson (Plainville) and Niki Nash (Torrington) each added 4.
       The second game of the day was against the CT Storm. This game was a defensive battle with 11 Red coming out on top 21-18. The defense was led by Alyssa McCann (Wallingford) who dove on the floor and tied up numerous balls. Caroline Teti led the team with 6 points, while Margaret Frawley (Agawam, MA) added 5 points.
       Early Sunday found 11 Red playing a 12 year old CT Roughriders. 11 Red did not back down and played hard. We had Morgan Downey (Terryville), Hannah Michalik (Durham), and Maggie Richards (Enfield) netting their first points of the season with 4 points for Morgan and 2 points for both Hannah and Maggie. Sarah Ercoli (Plymouth) held the point position and was found driving to the basket for much needed free throws.
       The final game of the weekend was against the East Coast Renegades. This was a close game from start to finish. We fell just short, losing 29-25. Kelsey Clemens led 11 Red with 10 points.
       11 Red did not win as many games as we wanted to but we saw some great things from our team. 11 Red is eager to be back in action in New Haven at the State Tournament.

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