BY MARK JAFFEE
Call her the Energizer Bunny. Jennifer Garzone, all 5 feet, 2 inches of her, never stops from season to season to season. She is in the middle of her second of three part-time jobs and loving every minute of it.
Garzone is head football coach for the tri-op known as MCW United in the fall and head softball coach of the Wildcats in the spring, just six weeks away.
Now, she’s in her fourth season as the Wolcott Tech girls basketball coach. She has guided her team to five consecutive wins and 10 in the past 12 games to improve to 13-5, with two regular-season games to play.
The Wildcats, who play at Bullard-Havens Tech of Bridgeport tonight at 6:30, have qualified for the CIAC postseason for the second straight year and fourth time in school history, and are seeded fifth in Class S.
The team’s success is a bit surprising considering the Wildcats graduated four starters to graduation last season. Senior Teja Petersen and sophomore Abigail Williams were the only two returnees with significant varsity experience.
The Wildcats went 12-8 in the regular season last year and were bounced by Somers in the first round of the state tournament.
Petersen, a post player the last three seasons, has moved to guard to fill a need.
Senior Armai Gainey, junior Rachel Heaney, junior Gianna Spagnola, sophomore Yennifer Sarmiento and sophomore Sierra Doyle have all moved into the rotation, playing significant minutes.
All are playing their roles well. The leader of the pack is Sarmiento, who was sidelined for the second half of last season by injury.
“Yennifer’s speed, tenacity on defense and ability to distribute the ball allows us to play up-tempo, but also to put pressure on teams with a variety of presses and traps,” said Garzone.
The team has also gotten some unexpected help.
“Rachel never played the sport of basketball until her freshman year of high school,” explained Garzone. “She plays ice hockey and was one of four players my first year whom we picked out in the hallway and said, ‘Come play basketball. We will teach you.’ Rachel has become a dominating force in the post on offense and defense.”
Averaging 5.9 points per game and 8.1 rebounds per game, Heaney is ranked fifth academically in her class. She stepped into the starting lineup four games into the season after mostly playing junior varsity as a freshman and sophomore.
Who are the leaders of this team?
“On any program where I’ve been a head coach, I have never appointed team captains for the season,” Garzone said. “Instead, I choose game captains to represent the team on both the varsity and JV levels. Teja is the only player from her class that played all four years when I became head coach in 2016. Armani is a senior, but is in her third year playing after she was out her entire sophomore season because of an injury. They’re both positive student-athletes in their hairdressing technology shop and for our team.”
The turning point came at the end of January, when the Wildcats lost to Abbott Tech, 49-40, and a week later to Platt Tech, 41-40.
“In both games, we had too many turnovers and missed layups to recover from,” Garzone said. “The players all met as a team on their own accord Jan. 29 after losing to Platt Tech before (assistant coach) Jim Pepper and I got to the gym. The players came up with additional goals to achieve for the rest of season.”
As the season nears its end, Wolcott Tech wants to make a run at the Connecticut Technical Conference championship and beat a nontech school opponent in the state tournament.