Girls’ Ice Hockey

The Branford-East Haven-North Branford girls’ ice hockey squad recorded its first two State Tournament victories in program history, including a major upset against top-seeded Greenwich in the quarterfinals, to move on to the semifinal round. The Wings defeated Northwest Catholic-Mercy 6-3 in their state tourney opener, after which they posted a 4-1 win at Greenwich in a quarterfinal matchup last week.

The 8th-seeded Wings improved their record to 18-4 with these two victories and advanced to face the 4th-seeded Suffield-Enfield-Housatonic-Ellington-Metropolitan Learning Center co-op squad in the semifinals at The Rinks at Shelton on March 7 (after press time). With a win, Head Coach Jack Norton’s club would play the winner of No. 2 seed Darien and No. 3 New Canaan for the state title at Bennett Rink in West Haven at 7 p.m. on Saturday, March 10.

The Wings opened up the State Tournament by notching a 6-3 home victory versus 9th-seeded Northwest Catholic-Mercy in a first-round contest at DiLungo Rink on Feb. 27, marking the program’s first victory in states. Emilie Wilkinson led the way by scoring three goals for a hat trick to go with one assist on her birthday. Emma Sheehan, Sophia Caturano, and Julianna Constantinople each added a goal for the Wings. Emmy Norton had two assists, while Alycia Ferretti and Morgan Odice both had one assist. Goalie Julia SanGiovanni played an incredible game in net by making 45 saves.

Then on March 3, Branford-East Haven-North Branford hit the road to face off against No. 1 seed Greenwich in the state quarterfinals and came home with a 4-1 win against the Cardinals. Constantinople recorded a hat trick to lead the Wings to their upset win. Norton had a goal with an assist, and Caturano also had an assist in the victory. SanGiovanni put together another sensational effort in net by making 19 saves for the Wings.

Greenwich scored the first goal of the game, but Constantinople tied it by netting a power-play goal, and it was knotted at 1-1 after the opening period. Norton scored a goal to give the Wings a 2-1 lead just 15 seconds into the second period, after which Constantinople lit the lamp to make it 3-1 just one minute later. Constantinople netted a shorthanded goal in the third period to cap off her hat trick and put the game away for the Wings, who advanced to the semis with the 4-1 win.

Girls’ Basketball

One week after losing to Mercy in the SCC Tournament title game, the Yellowjackets’ girls’ basketball team kicked off the Class M State Tournament by winning its first two games in lopsided fashion to advance to the quarterfinals. The 2nd-seeded Yellowjackets, who are now 22-3 overall, dispatched Woodland and Plainfield in their first two games of the state tourney.

East Haven opened states by claiming an 83-30 victory over No. 34 Woodland in a first-round home game on Feb. 26. Kylie Schlottman scored 16 points for the Easties, while Alexis Pendziwater had 15 points on five 3-pointers. Olivia Coyle scored 12 points, Marley Herard had eight points, and Taylor Salato added seven. McKenzie Helms handed out nine assists for East Haven, which saw 11 different players score a point in the win.

On March 1, East Haven hosted No. 15 Plainfield for a second-round matchup and came away with an 81-29 victory. Once again, plenty of Easties got in on the act as nine different players recorded points. Schlottman scored a game-high 26 points, and Helms posted a double-double with 15 points and 10 assists in the win. Pendziwater hit four more from downtown to finish the game with 12 points.

East Haven hosted No. 23 seed Wolcott in the Class M quarterfinals on March 5 (after press time). With a win, the Yellowjackets would play the winner of No. 6 Rocky Hill and No. 14 Stonington on Friday, March 9 in the semifinals. The championship game takes place at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville on either Saturday, March 17 or Sunday, March 18.

Girls’ Indoor Track

East Haven freshman Kisha Francois competed in the long jump at the 31st annual New England Interscholastic Indoor Track and Field Championship that was held at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston, Massachusetts on March 3. As one of the youngest competitors in the meet, Francois finished in 15th place for the long jump with a leap of 16 feet-7.25 inches, which was the best showing among all freshmen and the fourth-best among all athletes from Connecticut at the meet. Francois had previously set the school record in the long jump at 17-4 while winning the event at the SCC West Sectional Championship. She then finished second at the SCC Championship, third in the Class M State Championship, and sixth at the State Open.

Additionally this season, Francois won the 55-meter dash at sectionals with a school-record time of 7.46 seconds. She later placed sixth at SCCs, fourth in Class M, and 14th at the Open.

Boys’ Ice Hockey

The East Haven-Old Lyme-Old Saybrook-East Hampton boys’ ice hockey team wrapped up its regular season with a record of 9-10-1 after netting a 4-2 win over Westhill-Stamford in its finale. The Yellowjackets are playing in the Division II Tournament this week.

East Haven started last week by taking a 3-0 defeat against North Haven on Feb. 27. In its final game of the regular season the following day, East Haven topped Westhill-Stamford 4-2 on its home ice at DiLungo Rink. Alec Speirs scored a pair of goals, including the go-ahead tally, while Joe Consiglio and Zach Paquin also lit the lamp in victory. Matt Henderson and Consiglio had two assists each, plus Paquin, Rocco Plano, and Chris Teto also assisted on goals. Matt Twarowski recorded 18 saves net to earn the win.

East Haven opened up the Division II State Tournament as the 12th seed and played at No. 5 North Branford (13-7-1) on March 6 (after press time) in the first round at Northford Ice Pavilion. Should the Easties win that game, they will play the winner of No. 4 Conard and No. 13 Hall-Southington in the quarterfinals on Friday, March 9. The semis take place on Monday, March 12 at Ingalls Rink in New Haven, and the final is also at Ingalls on Friday, March 16 at 7:30 p.m.