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02/12/2021 11:00 PMLast year, the East Haven girls’ basketball team saw its season get canceled as the Yellowjackets were preparing for a quarterfinal matchup in the Class MM State Tournament. With the 2021 season having recently tipped off, Head Coach Anthony Russell is hoping that his athletes will be able to use last year’s disappointment as motivation to continue building their skills and help the program grow as a whole.
“The conversations during the offseason and leading up to the season have been about whether or not we would be able to get back onto the court. Now that that first step is done, now we get in everything we need to get done in practice,” Coach Russell said. “Hopefully, we start playing well. Right now, we’re looking to stay healthy, stay together, and we’ll take everything as it comes.”
This year, East Haven is being led by three senior captains in forward Taylor Salato and guards Erin Curran and Brooke Mortimer. Salato earned All-Southern Connecticut First Team honors and also made the Class MM All-State team last season. All three players are entering their fourth year with the program. Coach Russell said that it was an easy choice to name Salato, Curran, and Mortimer as the Yellowjackets’ captains.
“They’ve been around, and they know the way we do things. They all bring maturity and enthusiasm to the team,” said. “They’re all good kids. They do well academically, they work hard on the basketball court. It was kind of a no-brainer.”
The Easties played their first game of the year at North Haven on Feb. 10 and took a 45-27 defeat in the matchup. With the game tied 11-11 at halftime, North Haven outscored East Haven in both the third (14-11) and fourth (20-5) quarters on its way to the victory.
Freshman guard Juliana Iovino scored 13 points for the Yellowjackets. Curran had eight points, and freshman guard Kelsey Murray hit a 3-pointer in the contest.
Two nights later, East Haven hosted Mercy and lost the game by a 50-18 final. Iovino scored seven points, while sophomore guard Gabriella Gaetano hit two shots from beyond the arc for six points on the night.
East Haven was without Salato for its first two games of the season. With only three seniors and three juniors on this year’s roster, many of the Yellowjackets’ athletes haven’t seen much varsity playing time. While his team is off to a slow start to the year, Coach Russell wants to Easties to develop their fundamentals and improve on the court as they gain more experience.
“Right off the bat, we were a little bit behind the 8-ball. We are so young. Almost 75 percent of our team is freshmen and sophomores. I knew there were going to be some growing pains there,” Russell said. “We have some work to do. We’re kind of in the same spot as everybody else with not having a lot of offseason stuff. We have to get better fundamentally, and we’re hoping to do that day in and day out.”
Aside from his senior captains, Coach Russell is expecting a big jump from his junior class that includes guards Tanner Punzo and Kate Pycela, along with forward Teresa Vitello. East Haven’s roster also features 14 underclass athletes, including Iovino, who is starting for the Yellowjackets. As East Haven strives for success on the court, Russell is looking for the club’s up-and-comers to start taking the steps that will lead them to successful careers with the varsity team.
“We only have 20 kids and, out of the 20, 14 are freshmen and sophomores who are relatively young. We don’t have a lot of kids who have significant varsity minutes,” said Russell. “But we’re going to use the year as best as we could to prepare the underclassmen and stay true to our seniors. Hopefully, we’ll do well and have success in the SCC postseason experience.”
Coach Russell’s squad has enjoyed a wealth of success in recent years, having reached three-straight SCC finals to go with five-straight divisional titles and a Class M state championship in 2018. Russell said he hopes that the current edition of the Easties “buys into the system” and realizes that if they have confidence in themselves, they can ultimately help the Yellowjackets continue their upward trajectory in the long run.
Coach Russell understands that the 2021 campaign will be unlike any other. It’s a season in which everyone on the court has to wear masks and in which there will also be no state tournament. Still, Russell feels happy that the Yellowjackets are able to play this winter. As East Haven continues through its season, Russell believes that the experience will teach everyone on the team how special the sport of basketball is, and how it’s important to never take any moment for granted.
“Big picture, I hope they’ve learned that tomorrow is not guaranteed. I hope this experience teaches them that they shouldn’t take anything for granted,” Russell said. “The fact we’re even back on the floor right now is a miracle. I just hope they learn the life lesson of never taken tomorrow for granted. Embrace being around your teammates. You only get to do this once. You don’t realize how quick it goes by.”