Hello Sports Fans - JP Glenwood is off at a bowling convention. He has left the duty of write ups on Albany. The 16 Blue team finished 3-1 in lovely Albany, New York. There is no better place in AAU than Wolf Road. They played some very good basketball the entire weekend. Much better than their bowling on Saturday night. (More on that later).
       The first game of the weekend on Saturday morning pitted them against the Albany Capitals. It was a very good game from start to finish. We led 28-26 at the half. All eight players scored as we played very excellent team basketball. We won a close game by the score of 52-48. Emily Kessler (Ethel Walker) scored a team-high 9 points. Chelsea Foster (Avon HS) chipped in with 8 as did Rachel "GB" Karlins (South Windsor HS). Nikki Lapierre (Windsor Locks HS) and Tae Rentas (Sabis School-Springfield Ma) helped out with 7 points each. It should be noted that Rachel was 8 for 10 from the charity stripe.        Now for the first-ever CT Starters Bowling extravaganza. Let's say that the score of some kids didn't even reach their uniform number. It was a good time for bowlers and non-bowlers alike. The Sunset Lanes did a very good job of hosting us. 16 Blue's bowling skills are a work in progress. There was even some talk of Joe and Nick starting AAU bowling next year. It should be noted that Coach C did bowl the high score for 16 Blue, defeating GB Karlins by 5 pins.
       Sunday's first game saw us play the Nitros...from parts unknown. Coach J led the troops as Coach C was joining the Pro Bowlers tour. Claire Laing (Rocky Hill HS) provided some 3 ball action, hitting 2 for the game. The 16 Blue Berries led by the score of 26-22 at the half. Alex Williams (Sabis School- Springfield MA) had 10 points for the game. The second half was closely contested but we were able to win a close one 47-40. Tae Rentas was high scorer with 12. Rachel Karlins was 4-4 at the end of the game to seal the deal for us. Emily Stetkiewicz continues to be a defensive force for us, blocking shots and rebounding with vim and vigor.
       With the win, the team would advance to the semifinals of the mini tourney format. They would face the Syracuse Stars (another one). Fatigue would play a huge part in this game. The Stars were very big, yet we were only down 22-18 at halftime. Rachel Karlins had 8 points in the first half. The second half saw us go ice cold shooting the ball. We lost by the score of 44-30. Chelsea Foster and Rachel Karlins each had 9 points for us.
       With the successful weekend, the team is now 10-12 on the year. We have gone 6-3 in our last nine games. This weekend, we help host the Starters Summer Classic, then we are off for a couple of weeks until Portsmouth, New Hampshire on June 19th and 20th. A special thanks to the parents of 16 Blue. Mr Laing won the best shirt of the night with a shirt straight from the PBA. The parents meeting was very successful and necessary. We will have another one in New Hampshire to discuss who is better Drake or Jay Z. Be ready to support your argument. Congrats to Rachel Karlins who was 17-24 from the foul line for the weekend. Til next time, may your ball never hit the gutter and your toast taste better with butter!

       15 Red - May 22-23 at Albany Capitals Tournament
       The 15 Red knew they were going to be in for a challenge every game over the weekend at the Albany Capitals tournament at Siena. That challenge started against Team Mass on Saturday morning. The Starters came out flat and found themselves in a huge hole early with the half time score being 31-14. Haley Cole fought hard and led the scoring with 9 points and 7 rebounds while Maggie Donahue had heads up defense with 6 steals. Olivia Sutherland tried to get the team back in it with her 4 steals, but it just was not enough. Shooting a less than impressive 8-32 from the free throw line will not help win many games. The Starters had a stronger second half, but just couldn’t cut into the lead of Team Mass. The final score was 53-32.
       The afternoon game for the Starters was against the Rhode Island Breakers. They were a tough team from a reputable program. It was a great first half for the Starters going into the second half tied at 19 points. 15 Red did a great job holding such a talented team to only 19 points in one half. The second half stayed close and Genelle Green and Haley Cole did a nice job controlling the boards with 8 rebounds each. However, it was not enough. The Breakers held on for the 10 point win, 49-39. Rachel Franzluebbers chipped in with 8 points while Haley Cole led our scoring with 11 points. Jackie Riera played hard and was the only member of the team to hit her free throws, but went down with a head injury ending her weekend.
       Sunday began with a match up with the New England Shooting Stars. The Starters played a solid first half keeping themselves in the game despite 15 turnovers with a score at half time of 8-12. Then in the second half the Stars went to the line and shot 14-18 and they pulled away from the Starters. Olivia Sutherland and Kristen Van Gilst did a nice job on the boards each pulling down 7 and Rachel Franzluebbers defending as many shots as she could with 5 blocks. The final score was 48-24.
       The Starters wanted to end the weekend with a win against the Capitals, but the Capitals had another plan. The fatigue started to set in and the Starters were maxed out. Haley Northup continued her strong weekend in the game against the Capitals, but it just was not enough. The Starters shot poorly and just could not get a shot to fall. Kristen Van Gilst led the scoring with 7 points and Haley Northup had four rebounds and two steals. Kathleen McCormack had 4 rebounds and 2 assists. The final score was 49-24.
       The Starters had a tough weekend going 0-4, but the effort was there at all times. We had a great time bowling Saturday night and we look forward to a more positive weekend coming up this Memorial Day weekend.

       One of our favorite weekends of the AAU season was here as we entered the Albany Capitals Summer Slam at the University of Albany. Our first game was against the US Lady Hoopstars, we struggled early and we found ourselves in a battle. We held a slim advantage at the half 20-18. Sara Hubbard (7 pts, Wethersfield HS) started the half with a 6-0 run herself forcing the Hoopstars to call a timeout. Unfortunately for them our pressured continued and we never looked back. Megan Schuppe (12 pts, Northwest Catholic) got to the basket whenever she wanted, and Carrie Polomsky (8 pts, two 3's Wethersfield HS) got hot from the outside as we stretched our lead to 16 pts with under 3 minutes to go. Final Score CT Starters 45 US Lady Hoopstars 37.
       Up next was the WBA Knicks, the same team we played the weekend before at the CT Storm Tourney. We knew we were going to be in for a battle, and that's exactly what they gave us in the first half. The score at the half was Starters 26-19. Slowly but surely our pressure started to get to the Knicks, and our offense started to click as we stretched our lead to over 20 pts in the second half. Paige Young (10 pts, Berlin HS), the "Newington Connection" of Juliana Houldcroft and Alex Marquis combined for 16 pts and Zoe Fanolis (Hamden HS) chipped in with 7 pts to lead the offensive attack. Final Score CT Starters 54 WBA Knicks 38.
       Our final game of pool play was against the Albany Capitals. The girls started off strong as our 2-2-1 press and our tight man to man defense caused many turnovers which created easy transition points. We led at the half 26-17. After the break, we continued to dictate the style of the game and the game was never in doubt. The scoring attack was led by; Megan's 11 pts and Newington's favorite daughter's Alex and Juliana with 9 pts apiece respectively. Carrie and Zoe combined for 14 pts. However, the highlights of the game consisted of Molly Jalbert (4 pts, 8 rebs, Cheshire HS) two attempts from the 3 pt line and my deep underhand 3 pt shot from the bench that caused the crowd to go crazy!! Back to a serious note final score, CT Starters 50 Albany Capitals 28.
       By winning our pool we advanced to the semi-finals and we were matched up with fellow pool winner, Catskill Mountain Athletics. This was a weird game from start to finish as our game was delayed by almost two hours. Both teams came out slow but we managed to take a 21-15 lead into the half. The intensity level picked up in the second making for a really good half of basketball. With Catskill sitting in the unusual "ameba" 1-1-3 zone, I decided to take the air out of the basketball as we struggled to do anything productive against it. Up 6 points with fewer then 3 minutes to go, I felt this would seal the fate of Catskill and send us to the finals. However, it backfired as we missed our shots and they hit 2 huge 3 pt shots, no bigger than the one off our turnover to send our game into OT. In the extra session we made our free throws as Megan (7 pts) connected on all 4 of her attempts to give us the W. Carrie led us with 9 pts, Amanda Curivno (Canton HS) and Paige chipped in with 6 and 5 respectively. Final Score CT Starters 37 Catskill 33 OT.
       With a win over Catskill, we had the opportunity to play in the championship game against the Albany Lady Falcons. The only negative part about that was, as soon as our game was over we had to rush over to the other gym and get ready for our game as we had only 20 minutes of downtime before it began. This was our 3rd game of the day, but it happened to be the Falcons 2nd as they got a bye into the finals for winning their pool. With that being said, we were very sluggish and we never got going. The effort was there but our execution wasn't as we were physically and mentally fatigued. I applaud our girls on their effort but we came up a little bit short and we lost 41-38. Juliana led us with 9 pts, Brenna Roy (Stafford Springs HS) Alex and Carrie combined for 16 pts in the defeat.
       *** Of note, the girls had an outstanding weekend and their effort was amazing throughout the weekend. The bowling skills shown by most were unorthodox but nonetheless very entertaining. Molly, I apologize for winning but it was a lot of fun along the way. Back to a serious note, we have to do a better job on the free throw line, as we shot for a team 44-101, which is a cool 43.5%

Back to Weekend Updates