NB Basketball Winter Recap

This winter didn't offer much for roundball enthusiasts in North Branford as both the girls' and boys' teams struggled. However, there were some bright spots for the Thunderbirds.

Starting with the girls' team...

had trouble overcoming injuries that plagued the team all year. Perhaps a shinning symbol of the Thunderbirds' season was the play of senior Jessica Sola. The T-Birds finished 4-16 overall, failing to qualify for the Class M State Finals. However, the girls did pick up a few promising wins. Their came against Valley Regional with senior captain Tara Ricci blazing the way with 23 points, eight assists and four steals. came against East Haven behind a balanced attack which included 11 points from sophomore Ashley Arre. 

After the girls’ , coach Webster summed up the seasons struggles.

“It’s been a crazy year,” Webster said. “It’s tough to lose seven kids. If we had all our seniors we would have won at least 65 percent of our games. We struggled. We have only one junior and all those kids are sophomores who had to step up. Hopefully that experience is going to pay off down the road.”

The boys’ season offered fewer reasons to get excited. 

Coach Jamie Leggett’s group will close out a disappointing season at home versus Haddam-Killingworth and through 19 games, the T-Birds’ record stands at 2-17.

Although the year was troublesome, in coach Leggett was firm in the notion that the court provides student athletes more than statistics at the end of each game. 

"We want to be winners not only on the court but in the classroom in the community," he said. "Those other two facets are just as important as basketball for us. We could start to be winners in the classroom now, we could start to be winners in the community now, and eventually we can catch up on the basketball side."