RHAM loses seven seniors from championship team
The RHAM girls basketball team had seven seniors last year, four started, but it was then-junior Jaclyn Santella who was the offensive catalyst in the Class L championship game at Mohegan Sun.
Santella hit five threepointers in the first half and ended up with 20 points in RHAM’s 58-35 victory over Farmington for the Sachems’ first title.
Of course, with the seven seniors graduated, it will be a little harder for Santella to score that easily this season but RHAM will be fine with three seniors back.
“I had those girls for four years,” coach Keith Moyer said. “They used to change offenses and defenses on the court by themselves, they didn’t tell me and I’d yell at them because they were out of place.”
Junior center Marisa Lee is back, along with seniors Sam Freeman and Harleigh Roach.
“They pushed the first team last year, so they know what’s going on,” Moyer said.
Around the rest of the CCC, the graduation of last year’s senior class will leave big holes to fill. Hall, the Class LL runner-up, lost its leading scorer Amber Raisner. Enfield graduated four, including Mary Baskerville (Providence) and Cat Fonseca (Assumption) from a team that went to the tournament semifinals four straight years. Farmington graduated Izzy Lipinski (Franklin Pierce).
Hall brings back a group of experienced players including junior point guard Jenna Zydanowicz and juniors Olivia Deslauriers and Olivia Bonee, who hit the game-winner in an upset of Enfield in overtime in the Class LL semifinal.
Enfield coach Jay Gaucher says his team will play more up-tempo this season and is looking to rotate 9-10 players, led by seniors Kaitlyn Bourque, Cassie Urso and Sam Langan, who is coming back from ACL surgery.
Rocky Hill (20-6) advanced to the Class M semifinals, where the Terriers lost to eventual champion East Haven and graduated three starters but senior guard Nikki Lukens, who scored her 1,000th point last year, returns, as does junior guard Aleksa Peterson.
Wethersfield also had a good season last year, beating East Lyme in overtime in the Class L quarterfinal but losing in the semifinal to Farmington. It was the farthest the Eagles had advanced in the tournament since they went to the final in 2010. A trio of juniors (Nicole Gwynn, Isabelle Samse and Alice Kelly) lead the way.
Plainville brings back senior forward Caitlin Barker (20.7 ppg, 6.3 rpg) from a team that went 11-11 last year and graduated two starters. Berlin reached the CCC Tournament semifinals last year and has a group of players back from that team, including senior Angela Perrelli, junior Lyzi Litwinko and sophomore Ashley Wenzel. Northwest Catholic, which went 0-20 last season, has a new coach in Al Phillips, who coached for 26 years at Bulkeley and won a state title in 2006. E.O. Smith (13-9 last year) brings back seniors Taylor Verboven and Megan Solensky, its leading scorers.
Coginchaug, Cromwell lead the Shoreline again
Coginchaug won the Class S title, 71-42 over SMSA, despite losing three starters to season-ending injuries before the season even started.
Six seniors graduated from that team, including Carly Lane and Ginny Benbow, but coach Chris Watson is feeling pretty good about this year’s edition.
“Those kids learned a lot,” he said. “There’s a few kids who played a lot more than they would have if not for injuries and a few ended up being starters.
“It’s not going to be the same kind of team. We lost toughness with Carly Lane graduating. She instilled it in everybody else. I don’t know if we have that person now.”
Coginchaug still has height — 6-foot-1 sophomore c e n t e r Je s s i c a Behrens and 6-0 sophomore forward Molly Shields — and senior guard Jessica King, who scored 25 points in the championship game, returns.
“Jessica King can do a little bit of everything,” Watson said. “She’s played a lot of point guard, now I can get her off that, on the wing. That should be helpful.”
Cromwell, which beat Coginchaug in overtime to win its third straight Shoreline Conference title last year and went 21-4, is always good. The Panthers return junior Vanessa Stolstajner (14 ppg, 9 rpg, 4 APG) and senior Jessica DellaRatta (8 rpg, 3 ppg). Another Shoreline team, Westbrook, returns senior Savannah Marshall, who scored her 1,000th point last year but the team has low numbers and was plagued with injuries last season.
Mercy, Hand to be tested in the SCC
Mercy, the defending Class LL champion, lost a lot to graduation but brings back eight seniors, including All- SCC guard Kameryn King.
“We’ll be fine,” coach Tim Kohs said. “We have a solid group. We’re not as big and we don’t have a lot of depth and we don’t have any soft spots in the schedule, so it’ll be a challenging year.”
Another SCC team, Hand, had four seniors last year following its Class L championship year. This season, the Tigers have one. But coach Tim Tred- well also has junior point guard Sara Wohlgemuth, whom he calls “one of the most dynamic guards in the state.” Wohlgemuth averaged 17 points, 5 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 2.3 steals last year.
“Sara really has to embrace her alpha status and the other kids are going to have to grow up fast,” Tredwell said. “It’s there. We’re going to be a team you don’t want to see in February.”
NCCC will be competitive
SMSA made a surprise run to the Class S finals last year where the Tigers lost to Coginchaug but will be looking to build off that this season after graduating three seniors. Senior Kennedi Joseph and junior guards Kalissa Jameson and Rebecca Mayer are back.
After winning the state title in 2017, Canton lost in the first round of the Class S tournament last year as the No. 2 seed and don’t think the Warriors aren’t thinking about it.
“Last year’s loss left a bitter taste in everyone’s mouth,” Canton coach Brian Medeiros said. “You can’t go from winning the state championship to losing in the first round. We have to show up and play well.”
Junior guard Abby Charron (14.5 ppg, 5.1 apg) is back as is 6-2 senior center Sarah Bowman, who was injured last year and did not play.
“We’re pretty athletic, we have good length and size,” Medeiros said.
St. Paul should contend again
St. Paul lost five seniors to graduation before last season and had a group of younger players playing well together before injuries hit. Janessa Gonzalez, now a junior, tore her ACL in January. But they’re all back, including Gonzalez (19 ppg) and Jade Udoh (12 ppg, 7 rpg) so look for St. Paul to make some noise in both the NVL and Class S.