The CT Starters Red 12 Team participated in the 2009 Seacoast Shootout in Durham, New Hampshire. The team entered the weekend with an overall 24-5 record and were playing their best basketball of the season. The Starters were scheduled to play their first two games at the University of New Hampshire, with our first round opponent being the New Hampshire Shooting Stars. Our opponent turned out to be a great test for our girls.The halftime score saw the Starters leading by a single point. Lexy Prince missed her first shot of the game, but then Lexy a "3 ball" to register the first points of the game. Missy Bailey scored 8 points in the first half, while playing great hustle defense. Lily Dolyak pitched in with 6 first half points while Caroline Teti and Kelsey Clemens scored 2 points in a tightly contested first half of basketball. In the second half, Lexy Prince and Kelsey Clemens scored 4 points each with Sarah Thompson and Missy Bailey scoring 2 points. In the first half our team found itself in foul trouble, as three of our starters had recorded 3 first half fouls. The girls played their hearts out but unfortunately we lost two girls in the second half to foul trouble. With 3 minutes left in the game the Shooting Stars led by 2 points, then each team traded baskets. Mika Howard was inserted into the lineup replacing Missy Bailey and forced a couple of turnovers that led to 2 baskets and a small lead nearing games end. Margaret Frawley was inserted late in the game and led a fast break finding Kelsey Clemens breaking into the paint to score on a layup and a 1 point lead with 1:05 left in the game. Caroline Teti replaced Mika Howard and produced a Starters turnover after the Shooting Stars had narrowed the game score. With 14 seconds left, the Shooting Stars had the ball and a 1 point deficit. They worked for a last shot and found an open teammate who drained a jumper from the right side of the key. With 6 seconds to play the Starters had the ball and a chance to win. Lily Dolyak worked her way through a double team and with 2 seconds launched a desperation 3 pointer that missed its mark as the horn sounded. In one of their toughest tests of the season, the Starters lost by a single point. The Starters may very well have lost the game from the foul line as they made just 2 of 7 free throws while their opponent made 70% of their attempts. Final score N.H. Shooting Stars 36, CT Starters 35
       Starters second opponent was another team from New Hampshire, the Granite St. Lady Cats, who started the game playing tight man to man defense. Missy Bailey scored 11 first half points scoring almost at will as she attacked the Lady Cats defense. Kelsey Clemens pitched in with 6 first half points while converting 2 of 4 foul shots. Caroline Teti and Lily Dolyak worked hard on the defensive side of the ball as each used their quickness to the ball to force many turnovers as the Lady Cats couldn't find any rhythm on offense. To keep the pressure on the L. Cats, Coach Eco kept substituting Mika Howard and Margaret Frawley for Lily and Caroline. Pressure defense led to easy scores for the 12 Red team as we led 21-15 at the break. Second half action saw the girls score 34 points to easily dispatch their opponent. A 6 point halftime lead increased to double digits as the girls forced the action. They converted 10-15 free throws and outhustled the Lady Cats. Lexy Prince played a steady game in the first half, rebounding and shutting out any inside game the Lady Cats tried to establish. In the second half, Lexy scored 12 points. Sarah Thompson increased the lead to a 17 point lead with a putback of a missed shot. Lily Dolyak and Caroline Teti each scored 4 second half points. Margaret Frawley played quality minutes in the second half while pitching in with a single basket. No sooner did Sarah Thompson enter the game, she led a fast break and received a return pass to add to the scoring by the Starters. Final score CT Starters 55, Granite St. Lady Cats 42
       The third opponent for the CT Starters was the Strafford Stars. After splitting their first two games at UNH, the Starters took their game to the Oyster River H.S. on the other side of Durham, NH. Missy Bailey scored 11 first half points, while Caroline Teti and Lexy Prince each scored 6 first half points and Kelsey Clemens added 4. Sarah Thompson saw a lot of minutes in this game and converted her foul shots to push the Starters to a 24-2 first half lead. Our girls put a lot of pressure on the Stars backcourt as every Stars shot attempt had a Starters defender in their face. In second half action, it was "The Lexy Prince Show". Lexy scored 13 points, exhibiting her athleticism running the floor and scoring layups with ease. Kelsey Clemens added 6 points while the backcourt of Margaret Frawley and Mika Howard had 5 and 2 points respectively. Lexy Prince led all scorers with 19 points while she received balanced scoring from the rest of the team. This was only the second game where the Starters team had every girl score points and they easily beat their opponent. Final score CT Starters 55, Stafford Stars 17
       The "get away" game for the Starters was an 11 am game versus the N. H. Bobcats. Lily Dolyak and Missy Bailey found their shooting touch early in this game to each score 4 points. Caroline Teti found her range with a nice 14 foot pull-up jump shot. With the Starters controlling every aspect of this game, Sarah Thompson rebounded a missed teammate shot and kicked it out to Margaret Frawley standing outside the 3 point stripe; Margaret drained the jumper for 3 points and the rout was on. A pair of foul shots by Frawley gave her 5 first half points as the Starters led at the half 18-2. In the second half of this game our opponent found our pressure defense virtually impenetrable. With 6 minutes left and our girls sitting on a comfortable 27-4 lead Coach Eco pulled the defense back. Lexy Prince led second half scoring for 12 Red with 6 points, while Mika Howard and Caroline Teti pitched in with 2 second half points each. Missy Bailey played great hustle defense. It must be noted that Sarah Thompson played her heart out with a sprained ankle and seemed uncertain before the game if she could play but she played a lot of minutes, rebounding and running the floor for the 12's. With 4 points scored by Kelsey Thompson in the second half, the Starters again had balanced scoring by its 8 players with no girl scoring more than 9 points. This is a team that in its final road tournament played its best basketball. The CT Starters, led by Coach Eco, finished their season with a 27-6 overall record. Final Score: CT Starters 33, N. H. Bobcats 9

       The 11 Red team ended their season going 2-2 in New Hampshire.
       In our first game on Saturday we played the Lady Cats. The game was in our reach until about the 6 minute mark then we ran out of gas. Hannah Michalik led all scorers with 9 points, while Natalie Ruel chipped in with 7, along with 4 rebounds. Nicole Rojas added 4 assists, while Danielle Richardson had 2 points and 2 rebounds.
       In the second game of the day we faced the NH Lady Panthers. We played anoverall good game and came out on top 40-20, only allowing our opponents to score 5 points in the second half. Cindirose Morgan led the way with 12 points and 8 rebounds. Tashai Price added 4 points, 6 rebounds and 2 blocks. Jessica Berry added 7 points and did a great job on defense. Jeanna Willis chipped in with 7 points and dished out 4 assists.
       Sunday morning we played the Granite State Rockettes and ended up losing by 2. The girls fought hard but just came up short. Cindirose Morgan again led all scorers with 12 points and 10 boards. Danielle Richardson had 2 steals and 4 rebounds, while Hannah Michalik added 3 steals.
       In our final game of the season, our team played their best 2nd half of the year coming from behind and ending up winning 40-30. Jeanna Willis (6 points) and Nicole Rojas (7 points) combined for 10 assists. Natalie Ruel chipped in with 9 points, shooting 2-2 from beyond the arc. Cindirose Morgan had another "double-double" with 13 points and 10 rebounds, while Tashai Price chipped in with 8 rebounds. Hannah Michalik had 3 points, 2 steals and 3 rebounds and Jessica Berry played great defense the entire game and brought down 5 rebounds. The girls fought their way back to win their last game of the season and end on a high note.

Back to Weekend Updates