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02/22/2020 11:00 PMGirls’ Basketball
The East Haven girls’ basketball team has advanced to the final of the Southern Connecticut Conference Tournament by winning its first three games in the draw.
The Yellowjackets started off the tournament claimed a 39-29 victory against Guilford in first-round action, after which they defeated Lyman Hall by a 48-27 score in the quarterfinals. Then in the semifinals, the Easties claimed a 49-35 win against top-seeded Hand at Jonathan Law High School on Feb. 24.
East Haven, which has an overall record of 16-7, will play defending champion and No. 7 seed Hamden in a rematch of last year's final in the SCC championship game at Branford High School on Wednesday, Feb. 26
On Feb. 20, No. 4 seed East Haven earned a 39-29 win versus Guilford in the first round of the SCC Tournament. East Haven took a 25-22 lead into the third quarter and then outscored the Indians 14-7 during the final frame to emerge victorious.
Two days later, the Yellowjackets posted a 48-27 victory over No. 12 seed Lyman Hall in the SCC quarterfinals at Sheehan High School. The Easties were up 20-13 at halftime and then outscored the Trojans by a 28-14 margin in the second half to walk of the floor with the win.
Junior Taylor Salato scored 20 points to lead East Haven against Lyman Hall. Senior Alexis Pendziwater swished a trio of 3-pointers on her way to netting 13 points. Junior Erin Curran hit a pair of threes and scored six points for the Yellowjackets. Fellow junior Angelina Munoz also scored six points.
East Haven is playing top-seeded Hand in the SCC semifinals at Jonathan Law High School on Monday, Feb. 24 at 6 p.m. With a win, the Yellowjackets will face the winner of No. 6 Shelton and No. 7 Hamden in the championship game at Branford High School on Wednesday, Feb. 26 at 7 p.m.
Boys’ Basketball
East Haven lost both of its matchups last week to move to 4-15 entering the final week of the regular season.
On Feb. 18, the Yellowjackets took a 58-40 home loss against Xavier in an SCC Housatonic Division contest. Two days later, East Haven traveled to Fairfield University and dropped a 50-47 decision versus Fairfield Prep in another divisional game.
Boys’ Ice Hockey
The East Haven co-op boys’ ice hockey squad qualified for states for the 34th-straight campaign by earning a 4-3 home victory against Lyman Hall/Haddam-Killingworth/Coginchaug (LH/H-K/C) in overtime last week. The Yellowjackets have an overall record of 8-9 with a Division II State Tournament berth in the bag heading into the last week of regular-season action.
East Haven started off last week by taking an 8-0 home loss to divisional opponent Hand at Patsy DiLungo Ice Rink on Feb. 19. Three days later, the Easties punched their playoff ticket by skating to a 4-3 home victory against LH/H-K/C in another SCC/SWC Division II clash. Head Coach Lou Pane’s club now stands at 5-2 in divisional play with the win.
The Yellowjackets were down 2-1 entering the third period against LH/H-K/C, but scored a pair of goals in the frame to send it to overtime. With 12:34 left in the extra session, senior Alec Speirs put a shot past the opposing goalie to give East Haven the 4-3 victory, as well as a place in states.
Junior Dave Amatruda, fellow junior Duncan Rider, and sophomore Michael Robert also scored goals for the Easties in the win. Senior goalie Logan Hamilton made 33 saves in net.
Girls’ Ice Hockey
The Branford-North Branford-East Haven (B-NB-EH) girls’ ice hockey team split a pair road games during the final week of the regular season. The Wings finished with an overall record of 4-14-2 for the campaign.
On Feb. 21, B-NB-EH posted a 6-3 victory against SCC opponent Masuk-Barlow-Newtown-Lauralton Hall-Shelton at the Sports Center of Connecticut. The next day, the Wings took a 4-2 loss to Wilton-Norwalk-McMahon in a non-conference game at Winter Garden Ice Arena.
Girls’ Indoor Track
East Haven was represented by one individual and one relay at last week’s State Open Championship. The meet took place at Floyd Little Athletic Center on Feb. 22.
Junior Kisha Francois took ninth place in the preliminaries of the 55-meter dash with a time of 7.50 seconds for East Haven. She also qualified for the long jump after winning the event at the Class M State Championship the previous week.
Additionally at the Open, East Haven’s 4x200 relay of junior Samantha Franceschi, senior Edith Kwadan-naab, and freshman Adriana Franceschi finished in 14th place by recording a mark of 1:51.80.
Boys’ Swimming and Diving
The Greater New Haven Warriors boys’ swimming and diving team hosted Lyman Hall-Coginchaug for a divisional matchup at Walter Gawrych Community Pool on Feb. 20. The Warriors won the meet by the final score of 98-80 to improve to 7-2 overall with a record of 5-0 in SCC Division 2 action. GNH faces Sheehan in its regular-season finale before competing at the SCC Championship this week.
Sophomore Kyle Borrelli swam a lifetime-best time of 1:15.06 for the Warriors in their win over the Wallingford co-op. Junior Collin Romero turned in a lifetime best of 1:04.51 in the 100 freestyle, while freshman Patrick Cucchiarelli went a lifetime-best of 1:08.94 for the 100 butterfly.
Freshman Joey Gould swam lifetime best in the 500 freestyle (5:38.32) and a season best in the 200 freestyle (2:09.95) for GNH. Also posting season-best times were senior Evan Laughlin in the 50 freestyle (24.58) and 100 freestyle (56.94), junior Daniel Kamen in the 100 freestyle (54.05), and junior Tanner Powell in the 100 breaststroke (1:16.00).
The Warriors will begin the postseason by competing at the SCC Championship this week. The SCC Diving Championship takes place at Sheehan High School on Friday, Feb. 28 at 5:30 p.m.; the Swimming Qualifier is at the Cheshire Community Pool on Monday, March 2 at 4 p.m.; and the SCC Swimming Championship will be held at Southern Connecticut State University beginning at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 4.