North Branford Girls’ Hoops Loses in Shoreline Semis; Hockey Squad Qualifies for States

Girls’ Basketball

The North Branford girls’ basketball team took a 53-37 loss at East Hampton in the semifinals of the Shoreline Conference Tournament last week. The Thunderbirds, who have an overall record of 15-7, will open play in the Class M State Tournament this week.

On Feb. 23, 4th-Seeded North Branford faced top-Seeded East Hampton on the road in the Shoreline Conference semifinals. The T-Birds held a one-point lead after the first quarter, but the Bellringers had the upper hand the rest of the way and went on to get the 53-37 Victory to advance to the Shoreline final, where East Hampton earned a 44 -28 win over Valley Regional.

North Branford was up 11-10 against East Hampton following the first quarter of their Shoreline semifinal contest. However, the Bellringers outscored North Branford by a 19-8 margin during the second quarter to take a 29-19 lead into halftime. East Hampton won the third quarter 12-8 for a 41-27 advantage Entering the fourth and then outscored the T-Birds 12-10 in the final frame to finish off the Victory.

Senior Braeden LeBeau scored 18 points for North Branford in the game. Sophomore Keana Criscuolo scored 10 points, while fellow senior Callie Holzer had 8 points for Head Coach Sabrina LeMere’s club.

North Branford is the No. 12 seed in the Class M State Tournament and will host No. 21 Ansonia for a first-round game on Tuesday, March 1 at 6:30 pm With a win, the Thunderbirds would play the Winner of No. 5 Valley Regional and No. 28 Haddam-Killingworth in the second round on Friday, March 4 at 6:30 pm

The Class M quarterfinals are on Tuesday, March 8; the semifinals take place on Monday, March 14; and the Class M final will be held at the Mohegan Sun Arena on either Saturday, March 19 or Sunday, March 20.

Boys’ Ice Hockey

The North Branford boys’ ice hockey Squad qualified for the Division II State Tournament by earning a 6-2 Victory versus the Milford co-op last week. The Thunderbirds also claimed a win against Masuk to finish with an overall record of 9-11 for the regular season.

North Branford punched its ticket into states by claiming a 6-2 home win over the Milford co-op team at the Northford Ice Pavilion on Feb. 23. Sophomore Connor Stoner opened up scoring by going coast to coast and finishing with a slap shot for an unassisted goal during the first period. Milford got on the board in the second period, but senior Captain Ryan Michonski scored from sophomore CJ Sherwood to put the T-Birds up 2-1. Milford tied the score with a goal later in the frame, sending the game to the third in a 2-2 deadlock.

North Branford came out strong in the period and scored four goals to take control of the contest. Sophomore Michael Matteo, Michonski, sophomore Jake Pederson, and Sherwood lit the lamp for the Thunderbirds, who received 3 assists from Sherwood and 1 assist apiece by Cooper and Michonski during the period.

Three days later, the T-Birds Hosted Masuk and claimed a 4-2 Victory in their final game of the regular season.

Girls’ Ice Hockey

The Hamden-East Haven-North Branford (H-EH-NB) co-op girls’ ice hockey team won its first-round game in the SCC Tournament before taking a loss in the semifinals last week.

On Feb. 21, the 3rd-Seeded Green Dragons claimed a 4-2 win versus the 6th-Seeded Masuk co-op squad in the first round of SCCs at Lou Astorino Ice Arena. Two days later, H-EH-NB played at No. 2 seed West Haven-SHA in the conference semifinals and took a 3-0 loss at Bennett Rink to put the team’s overall record at 7-13 on the season.

Boys’ Swimming and Diving

North Branford junior Alley Farrell finished in fifth place on behalf of the Greater New Haven Warriors boys’ swimming and diving team at the SCC Diving Championship last week.

Farrell posted a score of 301.35 points for her 11-dive performance on her way to taking fifth place when the SCC Diving Championship took place at Sheehan High School on Feb. 26. Thomas Kehoe of Fairfield Prep finished in first place with a score of 487.25. Farrell recorded points that will count toward the Warriors’ team total when they swim at the SCC Championship at Southern Connecticut State University this week.