ANNOUNCEMENTS OF INTEREST

     The Starter "Family" is more than just basketball! We all watch daughters and teammates develop life-long friendships, learn to share and survive independently "on the road" and mature to college age young adults. We watch our coaches work with our daughters, share the "ups and downs" of athletic competition, gain experience, get married and move on to new opportunities. As parents, we get the opportunity to cheer for all the girls, provide words of support for a daughter whose parent(s) couldn't attend, and make our own new friendships.
     If you have a special announcement you would like to share, please e-mail us or fax us using the information at the bottom of this page.

Announcements:

• March 31, 2008
  - Congratulations to Samantha Royce, who will be attending St. Joseph's College, where she plans on playing basketball.
   
  
• March 19, 2008
  - Congratulations to Jacqueline and Jenn Shinall, who will be attending Connecticut College, where they plan on playing basketball.
   
  
• March 4, 2008
  - Congratulations to Siena senior Laura Menty for being named to the All-MAAC First Team. Menty led the conference in scoring with 19.4 points per game, and shot 55% from the field and 81% from the free throw line. She was also a first team selection last season. Johnell Burts of St. Peter's (and Windsor HS) was named to the All-MAAC Third Team.
   
  
• February 27, 2008
  - Congratulations to Jennifer Dabrowski (Player of the Year), Taryn Belowsky (Co-Rookie Of The Year) and Tiffany DeRosa (Senior Scholar-Athlete Award) of Western New England College for winning the above awards in the Commonwealth Coast Conference.
   
  
• February 24, 2008
  - Congratulations to Canterbury School basketball star Clare Fitzpatrick, who scored her 1,000th career point Saturday in a 43-42 loss to Kingswood-Oxford. Fitzpatrick, a junior, led the Saints with 23 points, including two 3-pointers. She now has 1,004 points in her career. Fitzpatrick will play in the NEPSAC East-West All-Star Game on March 2 at Noble and Greenough School in Dedham, Mass.
   
  
• February 23, 2008
  - Congratulations to Samantha LaCroce (Woodland HS), who will be attending Wesleyan University, where she plans on playing basketball.
  - Congratulations to Qourtne "Q" Young (Manchester HS), who will be attending Mount St. Mary College in Newburgh, NY where she plans on playing basketball.
   
  
• February 22, 2008
  - Congratulations to Western New England College senior guard Tiffany DeRosa for being named Commonwealth Coast Conference Player of the Week. She averaged 16.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 3.0 steals per game as the Golden Bears extended their TCCC winning streak to eight games. In a key 56-45 late-season win over Regis, DeRosa registered 19 points and six rebounds. She added 14 points, four rebounds, five assists and five steals in just 21 minutes in WNEC’s 64-41 win over Gordon. For the week, DeRosa shot 69% from the field and 8-8 from the free throw line.
   
  
• February 18, 2008
  - Congratulations to Samantha LaCroce (Woodland HS), who won the NVL regular-season scoring title with a 20.3 points per game average.
  - Congratulations to Paxton Thornton (Housatonic Valley Reg. HS), who won the Berkshire League regular-season scoring title with an 18.9 points per game average. Samantha Steinmetz (Shepaug Valley) finished 2nd, while Kat Woods (NW Regional) was 10th.
   
  
• February 16, 2008
  - Congratulations to Julia Baily, for being named Tuft's Athlete of the Week. With a career year that has thrust her into the spotlight, sophomore forward Julia Baily is proving that the women's basketball team's frontcourt depth goes far beyond its starting six-footers. Baily came off the bench to post double digits in both of the Jumbos' NESCAC victories this weekend, combining for 27 points on 10-of-14 from the field to help Tufts improve to 4-1 in conference play. After averaging just 5.2 minutes per game during her freshman year, Baily has stepped into a sixth-man role for the Jumbos this season. The Farmington, Conn. native is fifth on the team in scoring, having reached double digits in points in six of her past nine games. She has also strung together several strong rebounding performances, including an 18-boards-in-18-minutes effort against non-conference foe Emmanuel on Jan. 9. Baily has also established herself as one of the team's best free-throw shooters this season, shooting at nearly an 82 percent clip from the charity stripe, good for third in the NESCAC.
   
  
• February 14, 2008
  - Congratulations to Kara Kochanek, who scored her 1,000th career point in East Catholic's 52-46 win over St. Paul on February 13.
   
  
• February 9, 2008
  - Congratulations to CT Starters AAU teammates Samantha LaCroce (Woodland HS) and Samantha Steinmetz (Shepaug Valley) for both scoring their 1,000th career points in victories on February 8.
   
  
• February 4, 2008
  - Congratulations to Freshman Mallorie Michalak (Meriden, Conn./Platt), who was named Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Women's Basketball Rookie of the Week, after helping lead the Post University women's basketball team in a pair of games last week. Michalak averaged 15.0 points, 4.5 assists, 2.5 rebounds, and 1.5 steals for the Eagles. Michalak recorded a career-high 18 points in an 80-65 win at home against Nyack College on January 31. She scored nine points on 6-of-6 free throw shooting in the second half, and tied a career-high for assists with seven, while playing the entire 40 minutes for the third game in a row, and fifth time this season. She also had two three pointers, two rebounds, and two steals in the contest. The freshman guard also scored 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting against Bloomfield on January 29. This is the first CACC honor for the freshman, who has recorded 10 double-digits point efforts this season. She is third on the team in scoring with 9.5 points per game, and leads the team with 2.9 assists a contest.
   
  
• January 29, 2008
  - Congratulations to Damika Martinez, who set the Platt HS record for most varsity points scored by a freshman. She currently has 265 points, breaking the old record of 257, set by former CT Starters player Kelly Penwell in 1987. Penwell was a 2-time All-State player who went on to play at the University of Hartford.
   
  
• January 29, 2008
  - Congratulations to Sam LaCroce, who was named to the Academic All Star Team for Volleyball by the Waterbury Republican-American newspaper.
  - Congratulations to Sarah Herlihy, who was named to the Academic All Star Team for Soccer by the Waterbury Republican-American newspaper.
   
  
• January 19, 2008
  - Congratulations to Clare Fitzpatrick who scored a career-high 43 points, including a game-winning 15-footer at the buzzer, in Canterbury's 58-57 win over Westover. She was 15-17 from the free-throw line.
   
  
• January 14, 2008
  - Congratulations to Jennifer (Piazza) Laffin and her husband Pete, on the birth of their first baby, an 8 pound, 14 ounce boy named Jeremy Joseph On January 10.
   
  
• January 10, 2008
  - Congratulations to senior Katie McCabe, who became the 12th player in Colby College women's basketball history to score 1,000 career points. She reached the milestone as part of a 21 point game on January 9 in a win over Gordon College. McCabe, who has 566 career rebounds, also is a three-time all-conference soccer selection in the New England Small College Athletic Conference for Colby.
   
  
• January 3, 2008
  - Congratulations to Western New England College senior guard Jen Dabrowski (Plainville, CT), who is second in the nation in scoring with a 24.1 average in the first weekly NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball Statistics report released on Tuesday (Dec. 18). The 5’9” Dabrowski also leads the Golden Bears in rebounding (6.6 avg.), field-goal percentage (45.1), and free-throw percentage (85.2). She is tied for first with senior guard Tiffany DeRosa (Hamden, CT) in assists (22) and second in steals (19). Dabrowski fired in a career high 34 points against Westfield State on December 1 at the Pioneer Valley Women’s Hoop Classic in Amherst, Massachusetts. She was named to the All-Tournament Team at the Classic after scoring 52 points in two games. The sharp-shooting Dabrowski was named the MVP of the season-opening Babson Invitational Tournament after leading the Golden Bears won the title with victories over Williams and Babson. She netted 47 points and pulled down 18 rebounds in the two contests. Dabrowski became just the ninth player in the program’s 32-year history to reach the 1,200-point mark (1,213) in career scoring in her last game against Castleton State on December 7. Considered by many as one of the top shooting guards in the Northeast, Dabrowski also excels in the classroom where she is a Dean’s List student (Marketing major) and a member of the Chi Alpha Sigma Student-Athlete Honor Society.
   
  
• December 29, 2007
  - Congratulations to Michelle (Florin) Custis, on the December 7th birth of twin baby girls, Hannah and Alexa.
   
  
• December 24, 2007
  - Congratulations to Samantha LaCroce, who was named Athlete Of The Week by the Waterbury Republican-American newspaper for the week of December 10-15.
   
  
• November 26, 2007
  - Congratulations to Jen Dabrowski and Taryn Belowsky. In the Babson Invitational Dabrowski was named Tournament MVP and Belowsky was named to the all-tournament team. Dabrowski was also named Co-player of the week for The Commonwealth Coast Conference and Belowsky was named Rookie of the Week for TCCC.
   
  
• November 19, 2007
  - Congratulations to senior Katie McCabe (Colby College-ME), who was named to the all-tournament team at the Eastern CT Tip-Off Tournament. McCabe had 44 points and 16 rebounds in 2 games.
  - Congratulations to freshman Kirsty Leedham (Caldwell College-NJ), who was named Rookie of the Week in the Central Athletic Collegiate Conference (CACC). Leedham had 2-game totals of 40 points, 7 rebounds and 6 steals.
   
  
• November 15, 2007
  - Congratulations to former Starters player and coach Christie Madancy, and her husband, former Starters coach Steve Madancy on the birth of their 3rd daughter. Marielle Hope Madancy (6 pounds, 2 ounces) was born on Wednesday November 14. For those counting, 2 more girls and the Madancy's will have their own starting five!
   
  
• November 8, 2007
  - Congratulations to Kerri Stolle (Starters 14 Red), Grade 8 for being recognized by the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents/Litchfield County Superintendent's Association (CAPSS/LCSA). Kerri, the daughter of John and Mary Stolle, is an eighth grade student and an active member of the school community. She plays soccer, basketball, and softball and is a team leader in all three sports. She is class president, a member of the Student Council and is on the Math Counts team. Kerri is always enthusiastic and willing to help and assist her peers whenever possible. Kerri displays leadership qualities in all that she does.
   
  
• November 7, 2007
  - Congratulations to Starters co-director Nick Economopoulos for being elected to the Wallingford Town Council on November 6; he had the 6th highest vote total out of 17 candidates.
  - Congratulations to John DeRosa, father of former Starters player Tiffany DeRosa, for being elected to the Hamden Town Council; he won the 8th District seat by a count of 879-516.
   
  

   

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