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03/24/2019 12:00 AMThe East Haven girls’ basketball team continued its run of success by reaching the 20-win plateau for the third time in the last four years during the 2018-’19 season. The Yellowjackets also made it to the Southern Connecticut Tournament final for the second straight campaign. One year after winning a Class M state title, East Haven lost in the quarterfinals of the Class L State Tournament to finish this year with an overall record of 20-6.
“We had an excellent year this year. If you’re winning 20 games, you’re having a good year,” Head Coach Anthony Russell said. “I tell the girls this, and I truly believe getting to the SCC final is the equivalent or harder than getting to the state final. And we did that two years in a row.”
East Haven took a 65-49 defeat against Hamden in the SCC championship game, marking the second year in a row that the Yellowjackets lost in the final. East Haven came back to beat Stratford and Guilford in the first two rounds of states, before losing to Hillhouse in the quarterfinal round
“The outcome isn’t what I would’ve liked, but getting back there in back-to-back years is an accomplishment,” said Russell of the SCC final. “There was some disappointment, but it was muted, because we had the State Tournament [on the way] in both years.”
East Haven finished with a record of 16-4 during a regular season that featured a 12-game win streak. Along the way, the Yellowjackets posted a mark of 8-0 in the SCC Oronoque Division to claim their fourth straight division crown. The Easties became battle-tested by dealing with a difficult schedule that featured the A-teams in the SCC, as well as a few challenging non-conference opponents.
“After the success we’ve had the last two years, we were bumped to the stratosphere, playing Mercy, Hamden, and Hand as crossover games. And our divisional games were Amity, Lyman Hall, West Haven, and Lauralton Hall,” Coach Russell said. “Then I went out and got competitive games with New London, East Lyme, Career, and Bassick. Having that type of schedule was really grueling, but I thought it attributed to our success.”
East Haven was led by senior captain guard Makenzie Helms, who averaged 23.3 points per game and broke the school’s single-season scoring record with 607 points, surpassing the mark of 513 points set by Kylie Schlottman last year. Helms, who will continue her career at Division I University of Nebraska, also set East Haven’s single-season 3-point record by making 75 threes this season.
Helms’s two-year total of 1,073 points at East Haven High School puts her fourth on the school’s all-time scoring list. She’s also of just five players to reach the 1,000-point mark in program history. Helms did all of this in just two seasons after having scored 715 points at the Loomis Chaffee School in Windsor during her freshman and sophomore years. She scored 1,788 total points during her high school career.
“It makes you look really good as a coach, because she can bail you out a lot of times. When you have other years where you don’t have somebody of that caliber, it’s much more difficult to score,” Russell said. “Makenzie’s offensive capabilities don’t happen by accident. She worked at it. This is 10 to 13 years of her having a basketball in her hands 365 days a year.”
More awards may still be on the way for Helms, but she’s already garnered All-SCC First Team distinction, been selected as the SCC Player of the Year, and solidified a spot on the All-State Class L First Team. Helms also made the New Haven Tap-Off Club All-Area Team, earned New Haven Tap-Off Scholar Athlete honors, and was named East Haven’s Most Valuable Player. On top of all this, Helms received one of the greatest accolades in the state when she was selected as Connecticut’s Gatorade Player of the Year.
While Helms consistently poured in points, Coach Russell said she was always looking to get her teammates involved in the offense, in addition to being a defensive threat.
“Makenzie’s an active player defensively, as she was second on the team in steals, and probably the most important component is her vision on the court and how well she sees people,” Russell said. “Coaching boys and girls over the last 20 years, I haven’t encountered a better passer than her. That unselfishness translated to scoring opportunities for other people on the team.”
Some of those scoring opportunities went to junior captain guard Alexis Pendziwater, who earned All-SCC Second Team recognition for East Haven this year. Pendziwater set the program’s all-time 3-point record by hitting her 171st career triple, breaking the record that was held by assistant coach Cathy Celotto. Sophomore forward Taylor Salato also made the All-SCC Second Team after averaging 13 points per game.
“Taylor was a little bit under the radar this year, but next year, she won’t be,” Coach Russell said. “If she can work on her development in the offseason, she can be a heck of a player. She had a really nice sophomore year, and I hope she has a breakout year next year.”
Junior guard Bella Ragaini led the Yellowjackets in steals this season and was presented with East Haven’s Coaches Award alongside senior forward Alannah Doheny. Senior captain Jamie Gallo and fellow senior Karen Solorzano both received the Yellowjackets’ Sportsmanship Award.
Even with Helms graduating, Coach Russell feels good about the fact that East Haven will be returning a good chunk of its roster next season. Several underclass athletes gained varsity experience this year, and Russell views that as a huge plus as the Yellowjackets strive for more success in the 2019-’20 campaign.
“There were times this year when Makenzie wasn’t in the game when we had flashes of what our team would look like, specifically versus Guilford [in the State Tournament]. It was a different dynamic, because they couldn’t defer to Makenzie, so you could see they were working out what their roles will be,” said Russell. “Being young, hopefully that will help us, and we can continue the success we’ve been having. I’m really excited to see what type of team we’ll become next winter.”
From the Sidelines
The East Haven girls’ basketball team’s varsity roster featured senior captains Makenzie Helms and Jamie Gallo; fellow seniors Karen Solorzano and Alannah Doheny; junior captains Alexis Pendziwater and Bella Ragaini; sophomores Erin Curran, Francesca Caputo, Brooke Mortimer, Angelina Munoz, Nicole Pendziwater, Taylor Salato, and Samantha Samo; and freshmen Kate Pycela, Camryn Lendroth, Tanner Punzo, and Teresa Vitello.
Anthony Russell finished his 11th year as the Yellowjackets’ head coach. Russell’s coaching staff included Jeff Crisafi, Alyssa Guarino, and Cathy Celotto.
In the regular season, East Haven finished with a record of 16-4 that included a mark of 8-0 in the SCC Oronoque Division, resulting in the team’s fourth straight division title. The Yellowjackets notched two victories against Hand (59-37 and 59-53), Branford (60-41 and 66-32), Amity (50-46 and 73-62), West Haven (75-27 and 79-33), Lauralton Hall (77-56 and 60-32), and Lyman Hall (51-48 and 68-61), in addition to one win apiece versus Career (53-33), Mercy (54-52), Bassick (82-43), and Hamden (72-59). East Haven took losses against New London (66-63), East Lyme (56-55), and Hamden (60-56), and Mercy (55-54).
East Haven had the No. 1 seed in the SCC Tournament and earned a bye through the first round. The Yellowjackets routed No. 9 seed Foran by a 74-38 score in the quarterfinals to reach the semis, where East Haven defeated No. 5 Wilbur Cross by the final of 57-45. In the championship game, East Haven lost a 65-49 decision.
The Yellowjackets were seeded 5th in the Class L State Tournament. East Haven defeated No. 28 seed Stratford 83-40 in the first round, followed by a 58-35 victory against No. 21 Guilford in a second-round matchup. East Haven lost a 63-49 contest against No. 4 seed Hillhouse in the quarterfinal round to finish at 20-6 overall.