story & photo
by Vito J. Leo

It is not unusual that the UConn Women’s Basketball Team has 33 wins as the NCAA Tournament approaches, nor is the fact the team has yet to lose a game this season. After all, four women’s teams have finished a college hoop season undefeated, including CT in 1995 and 2002.

But what is unusual – make that astonishing! – about this current edition of head coach Geno Auriemma’s team is that they are not only winning all their games, but they are winning them by blowing away the opponent, beating teams by an average margin of more than 31 points per game, including the recent demolition of fifth-ranked Louisville in the Big East Tournament championship game on March 10.

Much to the delight of the mostly-pro-UConn crowd that filled Hartford’s XL Center, the Huskies jumped to a 9-0 lead and like the Energizer bunny, they just kept going and going and going, piling up a 26-point halftime bulge en route to a 75-36 victory over the Cardinals.

Geno said that despite the big margins his team had posted this season (including a 28-point victory over Louisville during the regular season), he did not expect such an easy win in the championship game.

“I could not have envisioned anything like this. I was surprised and I think every other coach on the staff was just as surprised,” said Geno after he guided his team to its second consecutive Big East Tournament championship and 15th overall.

What came as no surprise to anyone, however, was that CT’s sensational sophomore Maya Moore was named the 2009 Big East Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. Indeed, by the time the six-foot forward was taken out late in the game, she had outscored the entire Louisville team, 28-27!

“Maya Moore is what makes us a great team. The other players make us a good team but she makes us a great team,” Geno said of the player named Big East Player of the Year for the second straight season.

A sentiment shared by Louisville head coach Jeff Walz who praised Maya for “her ability to dominate a game [which] is just unique. There aren’t many players in the country as talented as her and the scary thing is she’s only a sophomore,” Jeff said.

Joining Maya on the 2009 Big East all-tournament team were two UConn juniors, Tina Charles and Kalana Greene.

Thus far this campaign, Geno’s troops, led by their floor general, senior Renee Montgomery, have marched through the competition with a scorched earth policy that rivals Sherman’s visit to Georgia: the 33-0 Huskies have won by 30 or more points 19 times (including a mid-January visit to then-second-ranked North Carolina) and their smallest score differential has been 10 (Notre Dame and Rutgers). That doesn’t include a 28-point victory over Oklahoma, currently ranked third in the nation.

The top-ranked Huskies should continue their torrid tourney pace when the NCAA Tournament opens at Gampel Pavilion at noon on March 22, with the Huskies guaranteed to play their first two games in Storrs. The second-round game is set for March 24 at 7 p.m.

The old adage in sports is that offense sells tickets but defense wins games. And the key to this UConn team’s unrelenting domination of the best teams in the country is they can play great basketball at both ends of the court.

“What I’m really proudest of, is that in all the big games we’ve played this year, these kids have really been committed to the defensive end,” Geno said.

In all three of their Big East Tournament games, UConn shut down the opponent’s leading scorer.

In the 79-42 quarterfinal win over South Florida, the Huskies shut out Jazmine Sepulveda, no small feat since the senior guard had just one day earlier tied a tournament record with eight three-pointers in the Bulls’ second-round win over Cincinnati.

The next night, for the second straight game, UConn held the opponent’s hot scorer scoreless, shutting out Villanova’s Laura Kurz who had scored 21 points to lead the Wildcats’ upset against Notre Dame in the quarterfinals.

In the championship game, Cardinals’ Angel McCoughtry, the sixth-leading scorer in the nation, managed to break the shutout skein but still couldn’t hit double digits in the “points scored” column.

Louisville may have an Angel but Geno is orchestrating an angelic choir this year, a team playing on a higher plane.

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by Alex Pierpaoli

Delvin Rodriguez, Danbury, retained his USBA Welterweight Title at Mohegan Sun in an exciting and hard fought unanimous decision win over Atlantic City’s Shamone Alvarez.  Delvin rallied in the late rounds, surviving an injured right hand and scoring a knockdown in the eleventh, to secure the close victory on the judges’ scorecards.  Rodriguez-Alvarez was the Main Event of ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights, which broadcasted three bouts of the seven bout show, live from Montville.

When the decision for the Main Event came it was razor-thin but unanimous in Delvin’s favor; Judges Don Trella and Joe Pasquale tabbed Delvin the winner by 114-113 and Glen Feldman had it slightly wider for him at 115-112.

Afterwards, Delvin spoke to reporters in the locker room, his right hand and wrist wrapped in an ice pack.  A member of the Dot-Com Media told Delvin that Compu-Box only had him throwing 3 right hands in round nine after the injury occurred.

“It hurt!” Delvin laughed.  “I try not to show the opponent because you never want to show the opponent what you feel, you know, no matter how much it hurts.  So I came back with my left hand and hit’em with the hook and a lot of jabs.  As a fighter that’s what you gotta do, man.”

A disappointed Shamone Alvarez said later that although he felt he deserved the decision Shamone blamed himself for letting the fight get too close.

“I just messed up, man,” Shamone said.  “I gave him one foot too much, that six inches to a foot of distance and then that daggone knockdown.”

In victory Delvin becomes a likely challenger to IBF titlist Joshua Clottey, the same man Shamone lost to by decision before meeting Delvin.  If anyone could assess the two it would be the man who has now fought both of them and in that comparison Shamone likes Joshua over Delvin.

“I think Joshua is a little more stronger,” Shamone opined on the IBF Champ.  “I guess because of his center of gravity.  He’s a little shorter, like he’s got this center of gravity thing going on.  Just a little stronger…He threw more punches faster.”

With the loss, Shamone drops to 20-2 (11) and Delvin improves 24-2-2 (14).

Also, in a special presentation from the United States Naval Academy, Capt. Karen Direnzo swore in Ship Serviceman Second Class Brian J. Namiluk who returned to Iraq on March 11.  Brian entered the ring a civilian and was under no obligation to re-enlist and return to active duty in a war-zone but was doing so to set an example to the assembled and to support his Brothers-in-Arms overseas.

“I wanted to do something in front of a lot of people, Brian said.  “And I wanted it to be special.”  It was, and Brian received a very warm and heartfelt round of applause from the Mohegan Sun crowd.  The Resident wishes him safety and good luck in his deployment.

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by Alexis Ann

The Mystic VFW is getting a jump on Spring and the 150 members of the Groton based 1109th AVCRAD, now serving overseas will benefit.  Find out how the Mystic VFW Post 3263 $1,000 donation will make a welcome home even better on page 6.

Mark your calendars, March 7th!  It’s time for the Mystic Irish Parade Foundation’s 4th Annual “Naturally Irish” Gourmet Dinner to be held at the Seaman’s Inne. The menu, comprised of all natural and organic foods, will be presented by fabulous culinary artist Christine Cooney of Puritan & Genesta Natural Foods, and hosted by Seaman’s Inne and Mystic Seaport. Providing festive and cultural entertainment for the evening will be The Brian Russell Band. The 2009 Grand Marshal Edward Murphy and 2009 Honorary Grand Marshal Fr. Theodore Klein will be honored during dinner.  More details on page 18. Oh, and don’t forget the fabulous parade on March 22nd.

The New England Lions Council hosted an evening to benefit the Lions Club International Foundation (LCIF).  Mehendra Amarasuriya, 2008 President, Lions Club International, from Columbo, Sri Lanka presented the Melvin Jones Fellowship to Groton Lion William Foreman, Waterford, and the Progressive Melvin Jones Fellowship to Groton Lion Hugh Casey, Mystic. The Melvin Jones Fellow Award is the most prestigious award that Lions Club International Foundation presents to honor someone who demonstrated exemplary service to LCIF and their local community over several years. The Progressive Fellowship is awarded to someone who has previously received the Melvin Jones Fellowship and continues to emulate the Lions’ Motto of “We Serve” in an exemplary manner.  Kudos to these Resident friends on page 19.

Thanks for reading the Resident, the Good News that Rocks! Please remember to patronize our advertisers as they’re helping to make the “good news”  happen.

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by Mark Kurtz

I grew up in Waterbury, CT and from a very young age found myself doing something with a pencil or brush in the hand. I still have and use the first drafting table my grandmother purchased for me when I was about ten. From the moment I sat down in front of that drawing table, I knew where my heart belonged.

The biggest turning point regarding my career as an artist came when I took a trip with my mother to visit my maternal grandfather in Riga, Latvia. He was a prisoner of war for many years and after being released by the Russians, he returned home to live out his years as an artist. My grandfather was a military officer and I admired him greatly, even though I met him only that one time. My grandfather, nor I could speak each other’s language. My mother translated for us and yet, our strongest communication came through art over a period of five days. So at around age 13, I knew my place in the world, that of an artist, nothing more, nothing less.

Academically, I excelled throughout high school and played varsity baseball for all four years. Many around me at the time, including my father, strongly urged that I pursue sports well into college and possibly beyond, but it was of no interest to me. Of course ESPN wasn’t around at the time and athletes weren’t earning ridiculous sums of money either. Not that I would have done anything differently anyway. Who needs money, I am an artist!

When I returned from Latvia, I took art lessons privately and it was during a conversation with my art teacher that I learned about Rhode Island School of Design. After many discussions regarding the excellence surrounding RISD as an art school I knew that was where I was going to go. I  had a guidance counselor in high school try to discourage me from applying to RISD telling me how difficult a school it was to get into. I wasn’t moved or interested in what the guidance counselor had to say, I knew what my purpose in life was and nothing would stand in my way. The rest is history; I received a B.F.A. in Illustration, 1983, from RISD.

After college I was on a mission or like some would say, in the pursuit of happiness like most young graduates. It took many years settling in professionally making a comfortable living as an artist/illustrator. Being rejected in art is like the common flu, you know one day it’s coming and the feeling can many times be miserable.

In my case it wasn’t the flu that sidelined me, it was Late Stage Lyme Disease. Just when my career as an art director/illustrator was taking off, the bite from a tick would profoundly change the direction my life. Who knew that Lyme Disease could have such devastating results? For me, Lyme almost ended with a death sentence. Today I smell the roses; of course I check them for thorns and ticks first!

When I returned from Latvia my appreciation for the United States was much different. I remember looking out the hotel window over Red Square in Moscow as elderly women washed down the streets in preparation for Lenin’s upcoming birthday, soldiers instead of policemen stood post. This was the day of the Iron Curtain and being an American in the heart of Russia at the time was an unsettling experience. It shaped in many ways how I view freedom and government rule even today.

Some artists at some point in their career decide to become recorders of history and social evolution, my work today going forward falls in that classification, even though I paint portraits as well as landscapes for private art collectors throughout the country as well.

The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks by al-Qaeda and bin Laden not only united a nation but deeply divided Americans in the years that followed. Norman Rockwell’s original Four Freedoms paintings created sixty-six years ago are a reminder of past history, while the revisited version painted by me draws one’s attention to issues facing us today, hopefully creating a dialogue with the viewing audience.

There isn’t one single snapshot that defines us as a free nation and that in my view is the strength of the American fabric tying each of us together. Whether I live twenty more years or a single day it has become my purpose to record history, through honest, objective, temperate eyes. These Four Freedoms are a jumping off point for me today. Freedom like health can never be taken for granted, and when one loses either one or both it is a day to be reckoned with.

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story & photo
by Vicki Anderson

There are often barriers that exist preventing women from getting the job training, encouragement, and education they need and want.  The Pawcatuck Neighborhood Center (PNC) and the Community Foundation of Southeastern CT partnered, through a grant, to alleviate the barriers of fuel costs to get to class; childcare and education costs.  Most recently, 31 women attended these classes at the PNC.

This Department of Labor on wheels features experience staff who can help with resume writing and job searches on this unique bus outfitted with 12 computers. The Career Bus will be returning to the PNC on Friday, March 13 from 10 a.m to 2:30 p.m. and will be open to the public.

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