LOOKING BACK | BY GEORGE ALBANO

10 YEARS AGO

After a tough start to the season, both the Brien McMahon and Norwalk High girls basketball teams broke into the win column. The Senators rebounded from its opening loss against Staples to post a 48-37 win at Bridgeport Central as Jazmine Taylor scored 16 points and Aleigh Fitzpatrick had 10. Ahead 16-14 after one quarter, McMahon outscored the home team 11-0 in the second period to open up a 27-14 halftime lead and stretch it to 42-25 after three ... The Senators then returned to the Park City and beat Bassick 57-28 behind 13 points from Yasmine Walker while Taylor added 10 points and Kyle Courtney scored eight.

The Lady Bears began the season 0-3, including a three-point loss to Staples and a two-point setback to Trinity Catholic in their last two games, both of which they led in the fourth quarter. But NHS bounced back in its next game with a second-half rally of its own to beat visiting Fairfield Warde 64-51. Four players scored in double figures as Erica Cohen netted 17 points,

Alexis Noonan and Katie Schmidt tossed in 16 apiece, and Emma Oyomba had 10 points.

The Norwalk High boys hoop team also beat Warde 66-51 as Ra’von Shular poured in 19 points, including four 3-pointers, and Rasheen Thomson recorded 15 points and nine assists for the Bears, now 2-1 ... A rebuilding Brien McMahon team, coming off an 18-win season, fell to 0-2 after an 85-83 double-overtime loss to Danbury. Freshman Timothy Hinton led the young Senators with 21 points while Darkym Stroud scored 18, including a clutch 3-pointer to force the second OT.

The NHS wrestling team came away with a 45-24 win over Harding as part of an early-season five-team meet. The Bears lost to perennial powers Danbury, Greenwich and Xavier, but Norwalk’s Evan Reisch won all four of his matches by pin at 138 pounds. Teammate Brandon Riggins, at 195 pounds, also went 4-0 on the day, including two pins and a technical fall.

25 YEARS AGO

This year’s West Norwalk Bambino

League 12 year-old all-star team, which won the Connecticut and New England championships and went to the 1996 Bambino World Series in Kentucky, was honored at the state capital in Hartford. As part of the festivities, the local all-star players and coaches met with Gov. John Rowland.

A little more than a week into the high school girls basketball season, it’s evident two of the more dominating players in the FCIAC are from Norwalk. Brien McMahon senior Olivia Dardy had 30 points, 13 rebounds, six blocked shots and four steals as the Senators beat Westhill 42-32 to improve to 2-1. Meanwhile, Norwalk High is 2-0 after freshman Ayanna Brown rang up 24 points, 17 rebounds and six blocks in the Bears’ 62-38 victory over Staples. Brown had 17 points and 22 rebounds in her varsity debut, while Dardy recorded 32 points, 16 rebounds, 12 steals and six assists in McMahon’s season opener.

50 YEARS AGO

The 1971-72 high school hockey season opened this week and

Brien McMahon skated out of the gate with a 4-1 victory over the Brunswick School of Greenwich at Norwalk’s Crystal Rink. After a scoreless first period, goals by Joe Lynch, Flip Johnson and Jeff Miller gave the Senators a 3-0 lead at the break. Jerry DiPietro closed out the scoring with a third-period goal while goalie Tom Connolly made 10 saves in the contest.

Football season may be over but Central Catholic is still making news. The Cavaliers, coming off an 8-1-1 season and its first Western Connecticut Conference championship this fall, also ruled the 1971 All-WCC team with a league-high six selections. Quarterback Tim Eagen, halfback Larry Anastasia and linemen John Laverty and Buster Chariott were all voted to the offensive unit while linebacker Jerry Tavella and end John Treshitta were selected on defense. The Cavaliers received more good news when Tavella and Laverty were named to the Class M-S all-state team ... Meanwhile, Brien McMahon and Norwalk High each had two players receive AllFCIAC honors. The Senators placed defensive tackle Bill MacDonald

and safety Bob Cochran on the squad, while the Bears were represented by offensive tackle Mike Monroe and safety Dan Hughes. MacDonald, who was named all-conference for the second straight year, was also named second-team all-state in Class L as an offensive guard.

First place in the newly established Can-Am Hockey League was at stake when the Norwalkbased Home Oilers met the Montreal Stars at Bridgeport’s Wonderland of Ice. A standing-roomonly crowd got their money’s worth as the Oilers came from behind three times before pulling out an exciting 5-3 win. Dick Toomey led the way with a goal and three assists.

The Norwalk Community College basketball team, which went 19-2 last season and won the Connecticut Community College Conference championship, picked up where it left off by trouncing visiting Tunxis CC 127-69 in its season opener at the Brien McMahon gym. Seven Cougars scored in double figures, led by John Stewart with 25 points and Jim Medina with 20 as NCC shot 58 percent (57-for-97) from the floor.