BEYOND THE ARC — If Christmas doesn’t feel quite like Christmas anymore, I’ve got some gifts for all of you #ctgb fans.  No. 1 Mercy had a lump of coal for Cheshire, East Haven got their first present of the Holiday season and Haddam-Killingworth's Halie Serbent is probably a great last minute shopper.  Alley-Oop.

Alley: Last week’s hits.

SHUTDOWN
Top-ranked Mercy isn’t just a 3-point shooting team. These girls can play some defense, too.
TUESDAY
33-0: That was No. 1 Mercy’s lead over Cheshire with 1:41 left in the second quarter. The Rams’ Missy Bailey hit a 3-pointer to finally get Cheshire on the board at the 1:40 minute mark in the second quarter. Mercy would eventually win 49-19. Mercy’s Maria Weselyj had a game-high 10 points. Cheshire fell to 2-2 after being held to under 20 points for the first time since a 55-13 loss to Westover on Dec. 1, 2007. Mercy defeated Sacred Heart Academy on Thursday and is no 6-0.

ON THE BOARD
East Haven picked up its’ first victory with an upset of previously undefeated North Haven.
THURSDAY
FIRST WIN: East Haven has had a tough  start the season, losing to Guilford (2-1), No. 1 Mercy (6-0), Hamden (2-3) and Foran (3-3). However, the Yellow Jackets picked up victory No. 1 with a 47-37 triumph over previously undefeated North Haven. Danielle Polvan poured in 21 points and grabbed eight rebounds and Amanda Bradley had a double-double of 12 boards and 11 points as East Haven improved to 1-4 overall and 1-0 in the Southern Connecticut Conference Oronoque Division.

SUPER SOPH
Haddam-Killingworth Sohopmore Halie Serbent steps up in the clutch.
THURSDAY
NO TIME TO THINK: That’s what Haddam-Killingworth's Halie Serbent said about her go-ahead basket to lead H-K over Hyde 44-39 in an interdivision Shoreline game. With the score tied at 38, H-K’s Lauren McCann found Serbent streaking across the middle of the paint, and without thought, Serbent let it fly and drained a 10-footer with about a minute left in the game. Serbent was only in the game because forward/center Kiley Anderson left momentarily with a leg injury. Nice coaching move, Jim Bombaci.

Oops: Last week’s misses.

TOUGH LOSSES, TOUGH WINS: No. 2 Weaver lost to unranked East Hartford 65-47 on Monday.  East Hartford is 4-0 on the season and Weaver is 6-1. Good win for EH, tough loss for the Beavers who might slip in the next poll. ... RHAM routed Hartford Public on Tuesday 84-6. Seriously, 84 points to six points. Not only did the Sachems come 16 shy off 100 points, but Sarah Veilleux scored 38 points. Now, Hartford Public is 0-5 and had lost games by an average of 36.7 points per game going into that RHAM game, but still to blow someone out 84-6 doesn’t seem like an accident. I know sometimes its hard to not win by 50-plus sometimes, but wow. Not in favor of a football-style score management policy, but in the spirit of good sportsmanship, just stop taking shots.

I Beg Your Pardon?: The best quotes from last week’s games.

“Losing four seniors and coming off a state championship people don’t expect a lot from us, but we definitely don’t view this as a rebuilding year. We have a lot of athletes on this team.”
 
Coginchaug’s Jessica Solomon on the team’s 6-0 start. Read Jimmy Zanor’s story in the Middletown Press, here.



“The thing that we do here is we come together. You saw in the last couple years how this community rallied around us, how they’ve rallied around every athletic program, every band competition, every school play -- that’s the kind of community this is. This was an opportunity for us to give back to the community, however small and insignificant that may be.”
 
Newtown coach Jeremy O’Connell after Newtown’s first game since the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary. Read Chris Brodeur’s story from the News-Times here.

Ballers: Last week’s best scorers

Brooklin Davis, North Haven: She scored a game-high 23 and made two 3-pointers in a victory on Tuesday.
Danielle Polvan, East Haven: She had 21 points and eight rebounds in a 47-37 victory over North Haven on Thursday.
Jayva Johnson, West Haven: Johnson had 29 points, 11 rebounds and five assists in a 62-57 triumph over Law on Thursday.
Paige Trabucchi, Old Saybrook: Had 19 points in a 57-51 victory over Hyde on Tuesday.
Taylor Ceballos, Foran: She had 18 points and 10 rebounds in a 51-37 triumph over East Haven on Tuesday.

Brawlers: Last week’s gutsiest performances

Jill Johnson, North Haven: Made the game-winning running jumper from 10-feet out as time expired in a 44-43 victory over Guilford on Tuesday.
Halie Serbent, Haddam-Killingworth: Made the go-ahead basket with about a minute left to lead H-K past Hyde 44-39 on Thursday.
Quanisha Finney, Ansonia: Had a career-high 17 rebounds and scored five points in a 40-29 win over Derby on Tuesday.
Kate Morrison, Old Saybrook: Grabbed 18 rebounds in a 44-22 victory over Westbrook on Friday.
Jessica Bogdwicz, Bunnell: Posted a triple-double of 21 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in a loss to Newtown on Friday.