By Hal Levy, Shore Line Newspapers
Special to MaxPreps.com
Norwich Free Academy was recognized as the first winner of the weekly Connecticut Sun high school girls' basketball team of the week.
The Wildcats, 21-3 a year ago, won their first two games to claim the Masuk-Monroe Tip-Off Tournament. They beat the host team, 54-45, and won the title, 62-40 over Pomperaug-Southbury.
NFA was led by sophomore guard Kastine Evans, who earned tournament Most Valuable Player honors. She had 13 points, 10 steals and six rebounds against Masuk and followed that up with 20 points, eight steals, five assists and three rebounds in the title tilt.
The Connecticut Sun will select a team-of-the-week all season. The WNBA team also hosts a CIAC state tournament championship luncheon and will recognize the four state class winners.
Roberts Reaches 1,000
Mercy-Middletown guard Rachel Roberts recently surpassed the 1,000-point career mark when she scored 19 in a road win at Cheshire. Roberts, a junior, forms probably the state's best backcourt with Bianca Simmons, also a junior. Both are already getting a lot of Division I college looks.
"We would like to balance the offense out a little," Mercy coach Tim Kohs told the Record-Journal of Meriden after the Tigers' win over Cheshire. "I think those two can get 50 points every night against anybody, but it would be nice to take the pressure off them by making a few more shots."
Girls Hockey on the Rise
It doesn't yet have enough teams or players to be recognized as a CIAC sport, but girls ice hockey is growing in Connecticut. Two-time defending state champ New Canaan got out to a 2-0 start with wins over Notre Dame-Fairfield and Daniel Hand-Madison.
Meanwhile Guilford, which was the state runner-up last year, lost a 2-1 game to New Canaan in overtime, started with a 2-0 record and a pair of shutouts for ace goalie Nicole Provencher.
Hillhouse-New Haven No. 1
As expected, two-time defending CIAC Class LL state champ Hillhouse-New Haven, was voted No. 1 in the New Haven Register pre-season boys basketball poll. The Academics have one loss (to cross-town rival Wilbur Cross) in the last two years.
Second in the poll was Weaver-Hartford, which features junior guard Tyrone Gardner. Weaver won the Class L title last year. Gardner is in his final year of high school eligibility due to age restrictions.
Weaver and Hillhouse were supposed to meet Dec. 13 at 8 p.m. at the Hartford Civic Center as part of the Doc Hurley Classic, a scholarship fund-raising event in the greater Hartford area, but the threat of 8-12 inches of snow put the game on hold.
In fact, the entire schedule for the day was postponed due to the state's first major snow of the winter.
The first game of a quadruple-header at the Civic Center had East Catholic-Manchester, featuring 6-foot-10 Nick Greenbacker (headed to Sacred Heart University) against New London, which includes 6-8 Allen Chaney (signed with Florida). New London is No. 7 and East is No. 14 in the pre-season poll.
New Britain was scheduled to play Bulkeley-Hartford with Northwest Catholic-West Hartford, led by St. Joseph (Pa.) signee, 6-2 Chris Prescott, against E.O. Smith-Storrs featuring 6-11 Ryan Olander, who is Fairfield bound.
Weaver will host triple-headers Friday and Saturday, weather permitting. The whole affair, which has raised a ton of scholarship money through the years, is a great early-season indicator of strengths.
Others in the Register Top 10 include Crosby-Waterbury, led by 6-5 senior guard B.J. Montiero; Trinity Catholic-Stamford, paced by 6-6 junior forward Tevin Baskin, generally thought to be the state's top under-classman; Maloney-Meriden, which lost to Weaver in the Class L final last year; Wilbur Cross-New Haven; New London; Torrington, which is led by 6-8 Jordan Williams; Holy Cross-Waterbury, paced by guard Jerome Williams and Windsor.
Danbury Dominates Wrestling Poll
The Norwich Bulletin has released its pre-season wrestling poll.
Defending state champ Danbury got all 13 votes from the panel of coaches. Ledyard is second, followed by Southington, Windham, New Milford, Middletown, Bacon Academy-Colchester, Griswold, Amity Regional-Woodbridge and Berlin. Amity lost its season-opening dual meet to Hand-Madison, 37-22 in a match Hand coach Dave D'Alerssio characterized as "the best match my team has wrestled in the last six years."