MCC Women Take 8-2 Record Into Holiday Break
The Manchester Community College Women’s basketball team finished the 2008 portion of its schedule with an 8-2 record following a dramatic 77-75 loss to Region XXI rival UConn at Avery Point on December 16th.
The Cougars, who are led by NJCAA Division III pre-season All-American Shanika Hines, trailed Avery Point by as much as 14 points midway through the second half. Avery Point jumped out to an early 17-7 lead and held it until Amanda Morales tied the game at 71 all with a pair of free-throws with 1:44 left.
Sophomore Katurah Andrews’ (East Hartford) fade-away gave MCC a brief 75-73 lead — its only one of the evening — before UCAP scored four unanswered points to close out its fourth straight win.
UCAP, who heads into the holiday break with a division leading 7-1 record, features a pair of local players — Bolton’s Karen Manning and Sarah Paternostro of South Glastonbury, who are both freshmen.
Hines, who was a member of Manchester High’s 2005 undefeated (28-0) Class LL State Championship team, leads the team in scoring, averaging 21.4 points per game. Sophomore transfer Jhenel Franklin, who played on Windsor High’s LL Champion in 2004, has been a dominant force at both ends of the court, averaging 11 assists, 9.5 points, 12.5 rebounds and nearly six steals per game. “Jhenel has an unbelievable knack for seeing something three seconds before anyone else does,” Assistant Coach Peter Harris said after a 109-47 win at Bristol CC in Fall River, MA earlier this month. “Her passes come very quickly at odd angles.”
MCC had its six-game win streak snapped in Groton against the ‘Pointers, but has been punishing opponents throughout the first half of the season with a core of returning players. Among them is sophomore Amy Griswold (Ellington), who Robert Turner welcomed back for his fourth season as the MCC head coach. Griswold, who is the only two-sport student-athlete among the 70-plus currently enrolled at the two-year school, won the Coaches Award in both soccer and basketball a year ago.
One freshman who has played like a sophomore is Torrington’s Erika Murphy, who has been in double figures in nine of the ten games while pulling down 16.5 rebounds. Murphy scored a game-high 24 points, while pacing MCC to a 95-55 victory over New Hampshire Technical Institute on December 14th.
The women’s basketball team is one of four intercollegiate programs at the school located on the west end of Manchester. The school’s baseball and Men’s soccer teams are coming off seasons where they played in their respective national championship tournaments in Texas while the Women’s soccer team turned in its best record in school history with a 16-3 mark.
All four teams have been particularly successful at home, having won 26 consecutive games dating back to May 11th.
The basketball team, currently the school’s lone winter program, returns to action on Saturday January 3 when they host Quinsigamond CC at East Catholic for a 1 p.m. game.
