Date: Fri 08-Sep-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: KIMH

Illustration: I

Quick Words:

Girls-Basketball-History

Full Text:

Girls' Basketball History

Just about the time that girls' basketball was starting to grasp a firm hold

of the high school sports consciousness the Newtown High School Lady Indians

sloughed off the yoke of mediocrity which had plagued them through most of the

'70s and a fair part of the '80s and became a team that other schools had to

watch out for.

It wasn't until Owen Gallagher took over the team for the 1986-87 season that

the team started becoming a real thread in the Newtown sports fabric and a

team to watch on the sports pages.

A succession of coaches like Pam Northrup, Diane Leavitt, Johnis Machiaverna,

Guy Doyon and Joe Fazio could do little more than guide the team through a

series of rebuilding seasons, until 1986.

In Owen Gallagher's second year in the coaching box, in 1987-88, the Lady

Indians finished with their best record, 16-7, since the advent of the modern

day rules, but it wasn't until the following season that they reached new

heights.

The 16-7 record was the first winning record the Lady Indians recorded in six

years, since an 11-8 campaign under Joe Fazio in 1981-82, and it was really

only the beginning of a two-year tour of the top echelon of girls' basketball.

Local fans had a feeling the Lady Indians had arrived when, in January of

1988, they defeated Masuk maybe for the first time ever, 56-55, on a buzzer

shot by Marty Huntington. " I saw it coming and I knew I was going to get the

ball, " said Huntington, who had nine points in the game.

Laura Oberstadt scored 20 that night and then, less than two weeks later,

scored on an off-balance shot with 5:15 left in a 63-21 win over Central

Cahtolic, making her Newtown High School's all-time leading scorer with 632

points. The win put the Lady Indians at 14-3 and clinched a Western

Connecticut Conference Final Four playoff appearance.

It was a close game and the lead changed hands 13 times, but the Lady Indians

suffered a tough 50-49 loss, their second loss in a row, to finish up the WCC

season and set the stage for the state tournament.

The Lady Indians jumped out of the gate in the first round of the CIAC Class L

state tournament, defeating Stamford 52-40, but came back and took a 64-56

loss to Cheshire in the West Region quarter-finals.

Jennifer Wyslick scored 18 points in the loss and Kim Pelletreau, better known

for her soccer prowess, added 10. Oberstadt finished her career with 734

points, only to see Kasey Keating and Wyslick pass her a year later . . .

It wasn't a great start to the best modern era season the NHS girls'

basketball program has ever had. After a February loss to Masuk, the Lady

Indians dropped to 8-6 overall, 7-4 in the WCC and seemed prepared just to

struggle into the playoffs and state tournament.

But the girls turned on the after-burners, winning four in a row - the last, a

66-15 win over Central Catholic that pushed Newtown's record to 12-6 overall,

11-4 in the WCC. In that streak, Keating scored 36 points in a home victory

over Abbott Tech and moved past Oberstadt to become the new No. 1 scorer in

girls' basketball history.

The Lady Indians were poised and in the opening round of the WCC tournament

they spread out the floor, killed the clock, and shocked the Masuk

Pantherettes, the No. 1 team in the state at the time, 35-32, behind an

18-point performance by Keating and an eight-point effort from Wyslick.

The Lady Indians had their shot at a WCC championship, but ran into

Immaculate, which finished 20-1 on the year. The Lady Mustangs upended

Newtown, 53-47, but hardly stopped the incredible momentum the Lady Indians

had garnered.

Coach Gallagher, meanwhile, was selected WCC Coach of the Year.

Ranked 18th in the CIAC Class LL state tournament, the Lady Indians crushed

Simsbury in the opening round, 55-35, getting some help freshman Lynn

Lattanzio, who scored nine points. The Lady Indians followed up that win with

a 58-50 victory over West Haven, using 23 points from Keating and 21 from

Wyslick. The win vaulted the Lady Indians into the semi-finals to face

three-time defending champ Southington and why it may have seemed Newtown was

overmatched, Southington needed three overtimes to nip the Lady Indians,

56-54. Keating scored 30 in the marathon while Wyslick scored 10, moving her

ahead of Oberstadt into second place on the NHS all-time scoring list.

Newtown peaked during the 1988-89 season and the loss to Southington was just

a precursor to a pair of sub-.500 season . . . 9-10 in 1989-90 and 8-12 in

1990-91. Coach Gallagher wound up his career with a 13-8 campaign in 1991-92,

the final year of Lynn Lattanzio's career.

Lattanzio scored 455 points that year, a mark bettered only by Kasey Keating,

and finished as the school's all-time leading scorer with 1,115 points. She

later went on to become part of the St. John's University Red Storm.

But the Newtown High School girls' basketball program had turned the corner.

After a 12-10 campaign in their initial season as co-coaches, Gregg Simon and

Tom Kuroski guided the Lady Indians to 17-5 record which, as successful as it

was, ended on a tough note.

The Lady Indians were 17-3 during the regular season, easily advancing into

the WCC Final Four tournament. During the regular season they had shocked Joel

Barlow in Redding and nearly unseated Masuk in a thrilling overtime game at

home, but things changed in the post-season. Newtown was beaten by Barlow in

the WCC semi-finals and then was beaten in the first round of the CIAC Class L

state tournament, ending their season quickly and prematurely.

Center Micaela Hurley and guard Sarah Wasko took their places on the all-time

scoring chart, with Wasko's 727 points good enough for sixth and Hurley's 705

fine for seventh. Freshman Alison Giannini and sophomore Erica Hanson emerged

as future stars.

Without Hurley or Wasko in 1994-95, the Lady Indians had to look to other

sources of output and found them in junior Erica Hanson (a school record 321

points for a junior) and Liz Glaser (207 points as a sophomore). Giannini was

out for the year, but with Hanson, Glaser, Melissa Eigen, Erin Archer, and Liz

Robilotti anchoring the team, the Lady Indians finished 15-7, missing the WCC

playoffs.

Before Owen Gallagher took over the team, though, good seasons were hard to

find. Joe Fazio coached an 11-8 team in 1981-82 (featuring Grace Whitney and

Laura Gohlinghorst that barely missed the WCC playoffs through a tiebreaker

and, before that, Diane Leavitt, a former player, coached a 9-8 team that

featured Tracy Teichert (ninth on the all-time scoring list with 528 points)

and Debbie Shreders (17th on the all-time scoring list with 407 points).

But the team always seemed to be in the process of rebuilding, especially

after it shifted in the early 1970s from the out-dated half-court rules to the

modern game.

In fact, the best season the Newtown High School girls' program had prior to

the Gallagher years was an 8-4 campaign under legendary coach Ann Anderson in

1969-70 . . . one of the last years with the half-court rules. Oddly, the

team, led by Liza Fairfield (13th on the all-time scoring list with 435

points), Pam Skelton and Donna Tibbets, was 1-6 against Western Connecticut

Conference teams.

But even though they had some trouble winning ball games, the Lady Indians

still featured some of the best athletes. For instance, Jackie Smith, Class of

1983, remains eighth on the all-time scoring list with 632 points.

Then there is Allison Borrelli (Class of '85, 11th on the list with 447

points), Mardi Shreders (Class of '80, 12th on the list with 441 points),

Donna Springmeyer (Class of '84, 14th on the list with 416 points), Terri

Staudinger (Class of '79, 15th on the list with 415 points), Nadine

Henchcliffe (Class of '92, 18th on the list with 351 points), Kim Pelletreau

(Class of '88, 19th on the list with 339 points), and Amy Barrows (Class of

'80, 20th on the list with 314 points).