St. Bernard takes over first in ECC Small

PUTNAM — Ashley Walenta had it right — unfortunately.
The St. Bernard junior said it was a “sad” event that not only spurred on her Saints teammates, but also served to create some problems that the Putnam girls basketball team just could not overcome Friday night.
An injury to Putnam point guard Kelsey Rybacki in the final 30 seconds of the first half gave the Clippers a need to regroup, and St. Bernard took advantage, using it to hold off Putnam, 38-31. The win pushed the Saints ahead of the Clippers and into first place in the Eastern Connecticut Conference Small Division.
“I hate to say it, but when Rybacki went down — it was sad — but that gave us a little intensity and the ability to double-team (Katelyn) Tarr,” said Walenta, who finished with 16 points. “That helped us out a lot and brought up our intensity.”
The game was tied at 12 with 30 seconds to play in the first half when Rybacki took a pass at the top of the key and drove the right side of the lane, only to collide with a St. Bernard player as she hit a lay-up. But as the point guard fell to the floor, her right knee twisted and the hard landing didn’t help. She never returned.
“We’re hoping it’s just a bruise and that she will be able to heal up and play,” Putnam coach Willie Bousquet said. “They did some tests on her and they didn’t think there was any ligament damage. Hopefully, we can get a knee brace on her and she can play.”
What made it even more painful came at the buzzer when Catherine LeBlanc (10 points) sank a 3-pointer to give St. Bernard a lead it would never relinquish, 15-14.
The Saints (10-5, 6-1 ECC Small) picked up where they left off in the second half when Jill Kowalski hit her only basket of the night — a jumper from outside — and Casey Brigham followed with a 3-pointer to make it 20-14.
To that point, Walenta had scored all of four first-half points and had made just 1-of-10 from the floor.
“I was searching for it,” Walenta said. “My teammates were really encouraging. Catherine kept telling me, ‘Shoot, shoot, you’re going to make them,’ and Coach (Mike Nystrom) said the same thing. He just wanted me to take a few steps in.”
Walenta followed that advice and after hitting one of two free throws with 6:08 left in the third quarter, went on a personal tear. She put in her next four shots, one from beyond the arc, to help St. Bernard build a 30-23 lead.
“The injury changed (the game) — she’s a good player for Willie — but the difference was that we started to make some shots,” Nystrom said.
Rybacki’s injury allowed the Saints to come out of their triangle-and-two defense they were playing on her and Tarr, and switch to a diamond-and-one with the focal point being Tarr. It allowed them to cover the perimeter after Ariel Pelletier had scored on a pair of outside shots in the third quarter.
“We could still double out of the diamond-and-one, but it gave us that extra person on the perimeter and it kept Emma (Sternloff) underneath,” Nystrom said. “It’s what we should have done from the start.”
Tarr, the No. 4 leading scorer in the area, finished with 11 points and 13 rebounds for the Clippers (10-5, 6-2).

Malhoit and Sartor lead Avery Point

You want to know what Waterford High graduate Anthony Malhoit and Stonington’s Tim Sartor have done for UConn-Avery Point?
James Childs will be happy to show you.
The Pointers coach doesn’t have to dig out any film or charts, he just calmly googles his way to the NCAA junior college website and starts reading off the stats.
You can do it for yourself and the numbers tell the story.
Malhoit, a sophomore at Avery Point, is currently third in the country in NCAAJC Division-III scoring as he averages 26.3 points per game for the New London-based school, that trails only Suffolk County Community College’s Leon Washington (29.6 ppg) and Manny Valentin of Atlantic Cape Community College (27.2) and is actually down one spot from where he has resided most of the season at No.2.
Malhoit is second in the nation in field goal percentage (75.7), third in rebounds per game (14.2) and ninth in blocked shots (2.2).
“He’ll be the first to tell you that he has a lot to work on, but I’m so happy,” Childs said as he scrolled down the statistics on Saturday after his team avenged an earlier loss this season to Gateway Community College with an 85-80 win.
Sartor has been just as impressive in his inaugural season with the Pointers as he is currently 14th in scoring at 21.4 points per game and is tops in the country in free throw percentage where he makes 90 percent of his opportunities from the free throw line. Add to that a ninth-best in the country in field goal percentage, despite taking many of his shots from beyond the 3-point arc, and you have a pretty devastating combo.
Still, it has produced only a .500 winning percentage as the Pointers came into the week with a 10-10 record. Chemistry is hard to come by with a team that changes personnel just about every season.
“(The coaching staff) told the team that (Anthony) can’t do it by himself and then I had to tell Anthony that he couldn’t,” Childs said. “Little by little, he’s trusted Evan Jensen a little bit more and Tim has played great.”
That was shown on Saturday when Sartor poured in 37 points and Malhoit added 24.
“We ran some two-man game, me and Timmy, he’s a great shooter and Evan is a great shooter, and we’ve all started learning our roles,” Malhoit said. “It was crunch time and we pulled it out, Tim hit some big 3’s and some foul shots and Jensen ran the show and got some key rebounds, it was a team effort.”
But as quickly as this team is coming together, it’s going to be torn asunder at the end of the season. Malhoit is in his last season with the Pointers and he’s hoping Division-I basketball is in his future.
“I’ve had some looks from Bryant and Northeastern, maybe Ivy League, hopefully it will work out,” Malhoit said.
When Childs is asked the question about Malhoit going Division-I, he let out a big sigh.
“Potential-wise, ability-wise, he could, but to be honest with you, it’s truly up to him,” the Avery Point coach said. “He played great in the St. Thomas More tournament and (Chancellors coach) Jere Quinn raves about him to every college coach he talks to. It comes down to what fits for Anthony. A Fairfield, for example, he could play multiple positions for them and they’re interested. For him, education is a big thing, he even told me Tufts because he has the grades and the talent.”
Malhoit is thankful for Childs’ efforts since he came over from Waterford High School after leading the Lancers to a state championship game in 2007.
“I definitely think it was a great move (coming to Avery Point), I could have left last year, but I didn’t think I was fully ready,” Malhoit said. “I spent an offseason with Coach and he has me lifting, I work out with (former New London, URI and NBA player) Tyson (Wheeler), I went out to (Las) Vegas and saw the pros. He runs you through everything, so I’m a more complete player.”
Sartor could have gone Division-III coming out of Stonington High which he led to a state semifinal berth in 2008, but the guard’s goal is to play Division-II ball.
“Getting bigger, getting stronger, getting in better shape, my skills are improving so I think it was a good move,” Sartor said of his experience at Avery Point.
The biggest advantage to Sartor has been the playing time which he knew he wouldn’t receive as a freshman at a four-year institution. Sartor hasn’t received any offers from any Division-II program as of yet and, thus, will likely return to the Pointers next season without Malhoit.
“He killed us in high school – actually since we were about 12 – so it’s been fun to play with Ant,” Sartor said.

Stailey getting adjusted

Nate Stailey was a high school coach in Pennsylvania, but left that to finish his graduate studies in college and now finds himself with his own junior college program at Avery Point in New London.
That makes for quite the adjustment in a short period of time.
“The biggest thing for me is the behind-the-scenes things,” Stailey said after his Pointers won their 15th game of the season against Gateway Community College on Saturday.
“Having to recruit, having to replace players; when you have seven freshmen and two sophomores- you know the sophomores are going to go, I’m not sure yet how many of the freshmen are coming back- you’re not 100 percent sure what the team is going to be like.”
He’s also had to adjust his offensive and defensive philosophies as there was no shot clock in Pennsylvania high school hoops.
Despite the adjustments, Stailey can look happily at the record as his Pointers are now 16-3 on the season (after a victory over Southern Maine CC Sunday), one win away from tying the three-year-old program’s record for wins in a season and “on the teams to watch list” in the NCAA junior college rankings.
“Region 21 (the Northeast) doesn’t get a lot of national recognition, there’s us and Roxbury (Community College) which beat us earlier in the year,” Stailey said.
The Avery Point coach fully expects it will come down to his Pointers or Roxbury to represent Region 21 in the national tournament.
“Going into the regional playoffs, they will probably be the No. 1 seed and we’ll be the No.2, so hopefully we’ll see each other and come out on top,” Stailey said.
After that, it will be on the recruiting trail, essentially for the first time for Stailey who should have some athletes to choose from, including a few from Eastern Connecticut, something Avery Point lacks right now.
“There’s definitely a lot of buzz about women’s basketball in Connecticut,” Stailey said. “I would love to get kids from everywhere, Eastern, Central and Western Connecticut.”

Bacon girls passed a test

Bacon Academy finally broke into the New Haven Register’s top 10 poll this week in girls basketball.
With a 14-1 record and 12-straight victories, including nice wins like Tuesday night’s 45-40 victory over Windham at home, it would only seem fitting that the Bobcats belong among the best in the state.
“We’re trying not to let it get into our heads, we don’t like talking like ‘we’re in the top 10,” Bacon junior guard Mary Corrado said. “We’re more like ‘Yes, we’re in the top 10, but it doesn’t mean anything because we haven’t played the top teams in the state. We played NFA at the beginning of the season, Windham now and Montville last week, so we’re starting to get some competition and we’re coming through. I think we deserve that title of top 10.”
Bacon coach Dave Shea looked at the respect the program has been gathering over the course of the season as both a good and a not-so-good thing.
“I would rather be in the top 10 at the end of the season when it really counts,” Shea said. “Sometimes, you have a good season and when the season is over, you’re in the top 10. That makes you feel really good. Now, it’s like a guy who drops out of the 20th floor of an apartment building and when he gets to the 10th floor, he thinks ‘everything is going great so far’. The thing is, is there going to be a net there or cement. At the end of the season, it’s important, it doesn’t mean anything now.”
Something that did mean something was Tuesday night’s win over the Whippets as it was a true test of Bacon’s mettle and the Bobcats passed to continue to be unbeaten in the Eastern Connecticut Conference’s Medium Division.
It was also one of those games that could help once the state tournament comes around as Bacon had very little room to breathe. The Whippets and Bobcats weren’t separated by more than four points until the final minute of the game.
“That’s what’s going to happen when you get into states- it happens in every sport,” Corrado said. “It’s good to have harder games towards the end of your season because it’s no easy ride to the state championship.”
Both the Whippets (11-3, 3-2 ECC Medium) and Bobcats struggled to find their shooting touch in the third quarter after Bacon held a slim, 25-23, advantage at the half. The Bobcats made only 4-of-13 from the floor in the third quarter, but Windham wasn’t any more effective as they made only four of nine and the Bobcats increased their lead to four, 36-32, going into the final quarter.
The shooting, believe it or not, actually got worse as the Bobcats made only 2-of-9 from the floor and the Whippets were just 2-of-5. While the shooting percentage went down, the number of turnovers climbed as Bacon turned over the ball six times in the final quarter and the Whippets gave it back on four occasions- the Whips givebacks were just a little more crucial.
Amie Toner, who finished with 13 points for Windham, drained a 3-pointer with 5:26 left in the game to cut the Bacon lead to one, 36-35. Brooke Bailey (10 points, nine boards) answered with a trey for Windham but the Whippets came right back with an Ali Risley 3-pointer to make it 39-38.
That’s when Windham couldn’t hit the big bucket.
Bacon committed two turnovers and missed a shot, but Windham gave it right back with three turnovers of their own, the crucial one coming just after Katie Mahoney dribbled through two Windham defenders to make it 41-38 with 55 seconds left.
Windham got the ball back, called time out at halfcourt, and got ready to inbound the ball from halfcourt when Corrado had an inkling.
“Right before the play happened - it was weird - I thought about it and I never had thought about it before, I was like, alright I’m just going to go and grab for the ball and maybe I will get it,” the guard said.
She didn’t want to foul, and she didn’t. Corrado jumped in front of the pass and moments later, was fouled herself. She hit both free throws and then capped things off by picking up a loose ball under the Bacon basket to preserve the win.
“Both teams played very hard, but both teams didn’t play as well as they could play,” Shea said.
“All the players made a lot of mistakes throughout the game, but then we made a couple of plays down the end when it counted,” he added. “We’ve got a lot of guts, we’re kind of tough and this is the kind of game we’re going to run into in the state tournament.”
McKenzie Hyde led Bacon with 12 points and 11 rebounds, all of the senior’s points came in the first half, Mahoney added 11. Bianca Gildea added 13 for Windham, all but two of those came in the first half.