Big matchup looming on Monday
The St. Paul girls basketball team (7-0) will play its biggest game of the season to date tomorrow night when it hosts Crosby (6-1) at 7.
Here’s a little bit on each team:
St. Paul
The Falcons, led by veteran head coach Joe Mone, are once again a balanced team that’s tough to beat. Senior Lizzy Cretella is the main scoring threat, though fellow senior Lizzy Ferraro can be tough to handle as well. Junior guard Brigid Johndrow is a tough defender with plenty of speed to boot, and senior Stephanie Speaker can knock down shots from the outside.The Falcons also possess depth with players such as senior Emily Sklenka, junior Amelia Sanchez and senior Lauren Palmer. St. Paul has plenty of experience back from last year’s Class S state quarterfinalist. The Falcons were moved up to Class M this year because of their recent success in state tournament play.
St. Paul has been without the services of senior Jillian Kilmer, who was injured in the first game of the David T. Rybczyk Memorial Tournament in Plainville.
Crosby
The Bulldogs thought they would be pretty good, but they have been better than just good this season. Crosby’s only loss came against Watertown, which has a pretty good team. The Bulldogs have three senior leaders in Ninoshka Robles-Figueroa, Destin Trammell and Mariah Machado, according to their season preview in the Waterbury Republican-American.
Head coach Phil Lott told the Rep-Am: “We have a group of committed players who work hard every day and are eager to get out on the court and win.”
That much has been obvious, given the great start the Bulldogs are off to this season. Trammell had a monster game in Crosby’s last time out against Torrington. Trammell tallied eight points, but the bigger numbers were her 12 rebounds and eight blocks, according to the boxscore reported to the Rep-Am. Robles-Figueroa led the Bulldogs in scoring with 24 points while Machado tallied 15.
In the only meeting between the teams last season, St. Paul took a 49-43 victory at Crosby.
Bristol Eastern wrestling takes fourth on Long Island
The Lancers acquitted themselves well at the Smithtown Wrestling Tournament at Smithtown West High School. Zac Thompson (160 pounds) and Anthony Circosta (195) each won their respective weight classes. Zach Marquis (182) and Luis Rivera (220) each took second place. The following wrestlers also placed for Eastern: Mikey Barrett (3rd at 152), Justin Marshall (4th at 120), Noah Corliss (5th at 113), Trinidad Gonzalez (5th at 171), Jordon Champagne (6th at 106) and Greg Lozier (6th at 145).
Eastern was the only Connecticut team to compete in the eight-team tournament, which had seven New York squads.
Some leading performances on the hardwood
There were some big scoring nights on the area basketball courts this week. Here are the top performances of the week for each team:
Boys
Sacred Heart — Mustapha Heron 35 points vs. Kennedy (1/8)
Crosby — Jordan Booker 29 points vs. Torrington (1/8)
Kennedy — Darryl Flowers 26 points vs. Sacred Heart (1/8)
Bristol Central — Jamil Hornesby 26 points vs. Rocky Hill (1/8)
Wilby — Damian Grant 25 points vs. Woodland (1/5)
St. Paul — Mike Palmieri 24 points vs. Seymour (1/8)
Bristol Eastern — Tyler Arbuckle 23 points vs. Newington (1/5)
Waterbury Career Academy — Roderick Jenkins 20 points vs. Kaynor Tech (1/5)
Wolcott — Matt Finke 19 points vs. Sacred Heart (1/5)
Holy Cross — Nyzair Rountree 19 points vs. Watertown (1/5)
Kaynor Tech — Alex Witkowski 19 points vs. WCA (1/5)
Chase Collegiate — Blake Hardy 13 points vs. Harvey (1/6)
Girls
Holy Cross — RaShana Siders 25 points vs. Watertown (1/5)
Crosby — Ninoshka Robles-Figueroa 24 points vs. Torrington (1/8)
Bristol Eastern — Diana Wnuk 20 points vs. Newington (1/5)
Kaynor Tech — Egypt Santos 19 points vs. Woodland (1/7)
Wilby — Tchawanda Chambers 18 points vs. Watertown (1/8)
St. Paul — Lizzy Cretella 16 points vs. Seymour (1/8)
Kennedy — Raegon Shirling-Davis 16 points vs. Sacred Heart (1/8)
Chase Collegiate — Maddison Jensen 14 points vs. Harvey (1/7)
Wolcott — Raven Cody 13 points vs. Sacred Heart (1/4)
Bristol Central — Allie Martel 12 points vs. Rocky Hill (1/7)
Sacred Heart — Mahnue Sahn 12 points vs. Kennedy (1/8)
Waterbury Career Academy — Tiana Wright 10 points vs. Woodstock Academy (1/7)
