The West Haven boys’ basketball team jumped all over the Branford Hornets on Tuesday evening at the WHHS Gym, hitting numerous three-pointers and building a 21-7 lead after the first quarter on its way to a 68-21 victory. Quannel Straughter led the Blue Devils with 17 points, including five 3-pointers while Malcolm Duncanson scored 12 points in the win. Also chipping in were Laron Holmes with eight points and Jordan Berrios with seven points for the Westies.
On Friday night, the boys traveled to Milford to face the undefeated Jonathan Law Eagles, looking to qualify for postseason play. The Westies got what they needed with a hard-fought 62-59 victory, improving their record to 8-5 on the season. The Blue Devils took an early lead only to see the Lawmen battle back several times but when push came to shove, it was West Haven’s defense and the Eagles’ inability to sink free throws that resulted in the West Haven victory. Quannel Straughter led the Blue Devils with 26 points while Muffee Cooper had 15 points in the win.
This week, the Westies had road games at Xavier on Monday and Fairfield Prep on Wednesday.
The girls’ basketball team traveled to Wallingford last Tuesday to take on the Lyman Hall Trojans. The Westies lost, 58-41, to the Trojans. On Friday evening, the Blue Devils hosted the Sacred Heart Academy Sharks and bounced back with a 54-46 victory. Natalia Frazer led the Westies with 15 points, Ny’Aire Serrano had 11 points and Diamond Dixon added 10 points in the win.
This week, the girls hosted East Haven on Monday, Amity on Wednesday and finish the week with a trip to Milford to take on the Lauralton Hall Crusaders on Friday at 7.
The boys’ hockey team faced long-time rival Hamden on Wednesday evening at the Bennett Rink. When Kevin Moriarty took a pass in the slot and fired it home to give the Westies a 1-0 lead just 49 seconds into the game, things looked good for the Blue Devils. Unfortunately for West Haven, the Green Dragons scored three goals in the first period, six more in the second period and then tacked on another 1:45 into the third period to take a 10-1 lead. Moriarty got his second goal of the game, assisted by Niko Kyle and D.J. Carfora with 4:31 left to make it a 10-2 final. Jared Pliszka made 15 saves in the first period, Charlie Miller stopped eight shots in the second period, Noah Iversen made 15 saves and Dan Kelly came in to stop the two shots he faced late in the game between the pipes.
On Saturday night, the Blue Devils headed to the Rinks at Shelton to face the Notre Dame of Fairfield Lancers. After the Lancers tallied 6:54 into the second period, Kaden Morgillo evened the score 54 seconds later assisted by Nick Boanno. Unfortunately for the Westies that would be their only offense of the night and the Lancers scored with 4:51 left in the period and then hung on to the lead to defeat the Blue Devils. Jared Pliszka was once again solid in net, making 34 saves to keep the boys close.
This week, the boys hosted East Catholic on Monday and played a road game against the Amity Spartans at the Bennett Rink on Wednesday.
The West Haven/SHA girls’ hockey team traveled to Northford on Wednesday evening to take on the Hand/Coginchaug/Old Lyme Tigers. The girls picked up their ninth win of the season with an 8-2 victory. Jenna Hunt ripped a shot from the left circle top-shelf to give the Westie Sharks a 1-0 lead 7:23 into the game and then Taylor Nowak snapped off a shot from the slot with 1:52 to go in the period to increase the lead to 2-0. Nowak got her second goal of the game assisted by Jianna Cohrs and Mackenzie Gardner and then CC Condon tallied assisted by Francesca Criscuolo to pad the lead to 4-0. After the Tigers got one back before the end of the period, the Westie Sharks added goals by Nowak, Condon, Nowak again (her fourth) and Megan Froehlich for the 8-2 final. Criscuolo had two assists while Meghan Dupre and Froehlich added an assists. Kyleen Crowe made 19 saves between the pipes for the win.
The Westie Sharks visited the Masuk/Barlow/Newtown/Lauralton team on Friday afternoon and improved to 10-2 on the season with a 6-1 victory. The girls got a balanced offensive attack with six different players scoring goals. Francesca Criscuolo got the Westie Sharks going with a goal 5:12 into the game and CC Condon scored at 9:40 assisted by Maya Boyhen to give the girls a two=goal cushion. Taylor Nowak tallied at 8:03 of second assisted by Jianna Cohrs and less than three minutes later, Veronica Lynn made it 4-0. A minute later, Mia Celentano increased the lead to 5-0 and Hailey Alfano capped the scoring for the girls 43 seconds later assisted by Megan Froehlich. Masuk spoiled Kyleen Crowe’s bid for a shutout with a third period goal for the 6-1 final. Crowe finished with seven saves.
On Saturday afternoon, the girls hosted the Fairfield Ludlowe-Warde Mustangs. After falling behind 1-0 just 3:47 into the game, the Westie Sharks scored four, unanswered goals for a 4-1 victory, picking up their 11th win. Taylor Nowak evened the game at 1-1 with a shot from the slot 7:22 into the first period assisted by Jianna Cohrs and then CC Condon crashed the net, jamming home a rebound with 4:11 left in the period to give the girls a 2-1 lead. The Westie Sharks increased the lead to 3-1 when Cohrs took a pass from Brooke McNabola and found the back of the net 4:45 into the second period. Then Nowak finished the scoring with a goal assisted by Megan Froehlich with 17.5 seconds left in the second period. Kyleen Crowe stopped 23 Mustang shots between the pipes to preserve the victory.
This week, the Westie Sharks hosted the Amity/North Haven/Cheshire Blades on Tuesday, headed north to face Northwest Catholic/Mercy on Wednesday and finish the week hosting the Guilford Indians on Saturday at 1.