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03/01/2019 11:00 PMGirls’ Basketball
The East Haven girls’ basketball team stormed through the first two rounds of the Class L State Tournament by earning one-sided wins against Stratford and Guilford to reach the quarterfinal round. The victories pushed 5th-seeded East Haven’s overall record to 20-5 and advanced to the Yellowjackets to a matchup against No. 4 seed Hillhouse in the state quarters. Senior Makenzie Helms scored the 1,000th point of her career at East Haven in the Stratford victory.
East Haven hosted No. 28 Stratford in the opening round of the Class L Tournament and notched an 83-40 victory on Feb. 25. The Yellowjackets jumped out to an early lead by outscoring Stratford 21-6 during the first quarter and then increased their advantage to 50-14 at halftime.
Sophomore forward Taylor Salato led East Haven with 21 points, while junior Alexis Pendziater finished with 10 points. Seniors Alannah Doheny and Makenzie Helms added nine points apiece for the Easties, who saw 12 different players score a point in the win. Helms, who is only in her second season with East Haven, scored career point No. 1,000 with the Yellowjackets during this win.
On Feb. 28, East Haven squared off with No. 21 Guilford in the second round of states. East Haven used a strong second quarter to take control of the game and prevail by the final score of 58-35 on its home floor. Holding a four-point lead entering the second quarter, the Yellowjackets outscored the Indians 20-6 during the frame to bring a 39-21 lead into the break.
Helms led all scorers with 17 points, and Pendziwater had 11 points for East Haven; both players connected on three 3-pointers in the game. Salato scored nine points, sophomore Angelina Munoz finished with eight points, and Doheny had seven points on the night.
East Haven will play at No. 4 seed Hillhouse (20-4) in the Class L quarterfinals on Tuesday, March 5 at 7 p.m. If the Yellowjackets win that game, they would face the winner of No. 1 seed Notre Dame-Fairfield and No. 9 Bristol Eastern in the semifinals on Friday, March 8. The final is set for Saturday, March 16 or Sunday, March 17 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville.
Boys’ Swimming and Diving
Hethon Foster competed as a team-of-one for the Yellowjackets at the Southern Connecticut Conference Championship at Southern Connecticut State University on Feb. 27. Foster, a freshman, competed in a pair of events and scored 59 points for East Haven to put the Yellowjackets in 15th place at the meet. Fairfield Prep won the conference title for the 15th consecutive year with a total of 1,333.5 points scored. Cheshire took second place with 993 points.
Foster claimed second place in 100-yard freestyle by swimming a time of 49.33 seconds at the SCC meet, scoring 33 points for East Haven. Foster only finished behind Joseph Zellner of Sheehan, who clocked in at 48.55 to win the event. Foster also recorded a ninth-place finish in the 200 individual medley by finishing with a time of 2:05.01. The freshman scored 26 points by virtue of that performance.
Cheerleading
The East Haven cheerleading squad competed in the Class L State Championship Floyd Little Athletic Center on March 3. The Yellowjackets earned a fifth-place finish out of 22 schools in the meet. Head Coach Michelle Maru said that the Easties turned in their best performance of the season, and she felt extremely pleased with the team's showing at the state meet.
The East Haven cheerleading team's roster features senior captains Olivia DelBasso and Haley Kozlowski; fellow seniors Zachary Danz, Ashley Davis, Samantha Incerto, Lea MacDougall, and Miranda Morman; juniors Ally Bourque, Megan Fucci, and Maia Thompson; sophomores Katie Battle, Sienna DeMaio, Olivia Dymarcik, Angelina Fiorentino, Ashley Lynch, Sydney Mingione, and Sophia Speringo; and freshman Kaitlyn Kapinos, Emily Miller, Vanessa Singular, Katelyn Theriault, and Antonia Torello. Head Coach Michelle Maru is assisted by Krista Anania.