By Hal Levy, Shore Line Newspapers
Special to MaxPreps.com
Two of Connecticut’s top high school basketball players will miss the rest of the season, albeit for very different reasons.
Mercy-Middletown guard Rachel Roberts injured her knee against Sheehan-Wallingford and it turned out to be the semi-official injury of women’s basketball in the state, a torn ACL. The University of Connecticut has lost two starters to ACL injuries this year: forward Kalana Greene and guard Mel Thomas.
Mercy was still selected as the Mohegan Sun team of the week. Roberts had 27 points and nine rebounds in a win over Career-New Haven and her running mate, junior guard Bianca Simmons, had 21 points and nine rebounds. Mercy also beat Sheehan, 66-25. In its first full game without Roberts, the Tigers edged Daniel Hand-Madison, 56-50. They are ranked third in the New Haven Register media/coaches poll.
Holy Cross-Waterbury, winner of 43 straight, leads the poll and is followed by New Britain (16-1). Then come Mercy, Bulkeley-Hartford (15-1) and Trinity Catholic-Stanford (16-1.
The second five is led by Career (16-2) with Lauralton Hall-Milford (14-1) seventh, Kolbe Cathedral-Bridgeport (13-2) eighth, Notre Dame-Fairfield (14-2) ninth and East Hampton (16-0) tenth.
East Hampton punctuated its first appearance in the poll with a 31-29 win over Old Lyme and then served notice on everyone with a 61-2 win over Hyde Leadership-New Haven. Hyde was held scoreless in the first half and got its lone basket in the third quarter. The Howling Wolves dressed only six girls for the game.
The other top player out for the year is Weaver-Hartford junior guard Tyrone Gardner. He had 36 points in last year’s state championship win over Maloney and was getting a number of top-flight Division I looks. Coach Lou LaPenna dismissed Gardner from the team for the ubiquitous “violation of team policy.”
A published report said LaPenna would welcome Gardner back next year. However, other reports over time have indicated Gardner will be too old to play high school ball next year. It appears prep school or a junior college might be his only routes to a possible Division I career.
Weaver has not gotten any poll support in recent weeks.
The top of the New Haven Register’s media poll includes unbeatens Wilbur Cross (15-0) and Windsor (15-0). Tied for third are Crosby-Waterbury (14-1) and New London (14-1). New London got a win the easy way Thursday night when Tourtellotte Memorial-Thompson forfeited a game. According to a report in The Day of New London, an incident during a girls’ game between the two schools the night before caused administrators to believe not playing the game was the best route for both schools.
St. Joseph-Trumbull (12-1) is fifth in the poll.
The second five includes Hillhouse-New Haven (13-2), Trinity Catholic-Stamford (13-2), Xavier-Middletown (13-2), East Catholic-Manchester (13-1) and Holy Cross-Waterbury (13-2).
Undefeated South Windsor (15-0) leads the New Haven Register media/coaches’ poll in boys’ ice hockey. Hamden (11-3) is second and the two teams meet Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at Hamden’s Lou Astronio Rink.
East Haven (13-2) is third in the poll, followed by Ridgefield (12-3) and Notre Dame-West Haven (8-5).
Glastonbury (9-2-1) is sixth with Conard-West Hartford (9-2-1) and Trinity Catholic-Stamford (14-2) tied for seventh. Notre Dame-Fairfield is ninth and Darien is tenth.
Wrestling
In the penultimate regular-season wrestling poll of coaches conducted by the Norwich Bulletin, Danbury retained its unanimous first-place post with a 22-0 record. Second is Ledyard (20-2), followed by Middletown (26-2), New Milford (22-1) and Windham (19-11).
The next five are Bacon Academt-Colchester (31-4), Berlin (21-7), Bristol Central (22-0), Jonathan Law-Milford (24-5) and Daniel Hand-Madison (19-5).
Most teams will be involved in league championship tournaments this weekend. State tournaments are a week away.
