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02/02/2020 11:00 PMGirls’ Basketball
The Branford girls’ basketball team won both of its games last week to improve to 4-10 on the season.
Branford hosted Cheshire on Jan. 28 and won the game by a 52-46 final. Senior Karly King had a huge game for the Hornets by scoring 28 points to go with 12 rebounds, four assists, and three steals. Senior Lily Moore-Markey and junior Gabby Lucertini scored seven points apiece in the winning effort.
Then on Jan. 31, the Hornets notched a 52-50 victory Hamden in SCC Oronoque Division game. Branford moved to 2-3 in the division with the win. Lucertini netted 17 points for the Hornets on the night. Freshman Allie Bietz scored 14 points, and King added 11 points in the victory.
Boys’ Basketball
Branford went up against a pair of SCC Quinnipiac Division opponents last week. The Hornets split their contests with Guilford and Career and are now 6-8 overall with a record of 1-3 in divisional play.
On Jan. 28, Branford took a 73-49 road loss versus Guilford. Then on Jan. 31, the Hornets hosted Career and defeated the Panthers by the score of 57-51 for their first win in Quinnipiac action.
Boys’ Ice Hockey
The Hornets hosted Westhill-Stamford for a non-conference contest at Northford Ice Pavilion on Jan. 29. Branford won the game by the score of 4-1 to improve its overall record to 11-1-1 on the season.
Branford trailed 1-0 until senior Zach Jones scored from freshman Matt Morgan and senior Blake Kustra to tie the game with 2:38 to play in the opening period. Morgan scored on an assist by Jones to give the Hornets a 2-1 lead 3:24 into the second period. Just 27 seconds later, senior Jack Manware netted a goal from junior Dan Farricelli to make it 3-1. In the third period, Manware scored from senior Spencer Engstrom and Kustra to give Branford a 4-1 advantage with 8:36 left in the game. Junior goalie Jared Yakimoff made 30 saves between the pipes for the Hornets.
Girls’ Ice Hockey
The Branford-North Branford-East Haven girls’ ice hockey team was scheduled to play a road game against Notre Dame-Fairfield/Law/Foran/Weston/Pomperaug on Jan. 29, but the contest was postponed. With their record of 3-9-1, the Wings will be back on the ice when they host Guilford at Patsy DiLungo Ice Rink at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 8. After that, the Wings will make up their game versus the Notre Dame co-op when the two clubs face off at the Sports Center of Connecticut in Shelton on Wednesday, Feb. 12 at 3:45 p.m.
Gymnastics
Junior Brooke Kustra took first place on the bars and finished third all-around during the Hand gymnastics team’s meet last week. Hand competed against Foran in a road meet on Jan. 30.
Kustra claimed first place for the bars by posting a score of 8.3 on behalf of Branford. She totaled an all-around score of 31.50 to finish in third place at the meet.
Wrestling
Branford traveled to Milford to face Foran for an SCC Division 1 matchup on Jan. 29. The Hornets claimed a 43-28 victory versus the Lions to improve to 17-1 overall with a record of 3-1 in SCC Division 1.
The win marked Branford’s first victory against Foran since Jesse Hurlburt became the Hornets’ head coach three years ago. It was also the 50th win for Hurlburt and fellow coach Dan DiBisceglie with Branford.
The Hornets jumped out to a 24-0 lead over Foran, keyed by pinfall victories from junior Justin Osler in the 182-pound weight class, as well as sophomore Nate Mathis, who rallied for a third-period victory at 195; senior Cody McHenry, who got bumped up to 220 and remained undefeated on the year with the win; and fellow senior Minsok Lee at 285.
Sophomore Jace Korab prevailed by pin in overtime at 120 pounds, after which fellow sophomore Josh Berdon pinned his opponent in the 126-pound bout. Junior Peyton Tracy secured the victory for Branford when he pinned his opponent at 145 pounds for his 22nd pinfall win of the year. Junior AJ Robinson was bumped up to 170 pounds and won a major decision to finish off a special night for the Hornets.