Munsee

Paige Bueckers has UConn looking like a team that could make noise this season. (Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images) (Greg Fiume via Getty Images)

UNCASVILLE, Conn. — The Women’s Hall of Fame Showcase featured six teams ranked in the women’s basketball Associated Press Top 25, and the competition didn’t disappoint. While there weren’t any upsets as has been the case most weekends of the season so far, there were three quality contests involving six teams likely to make noise in the 2024 NCAA tournament.

“You can’t turn on a women’s game right now and be bored,” North Carolina head coach and Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) president Courtney Banghart said. “It’s just not possible.”

No. 1 South Carolina, No. 2 UCLA and No. 17 UConn all walked out of Mohegan Sun Arena with résumé-building wins as teams turn toward conference games this month. Here’s what we learned from seven hours of elite basketball in Connecticut on Sunday.

UConn isn’t done

Paige Bueckers turned a mourning into a block party, making a statement that UConn’s quest for another deep NCAA tournament run is far from over. The entire team looked more hungry than they had in recent games, and Bueckers was in classic Naismith-winner mode even if there are issues still to be cleaned up.

She scored a game-high 26 points, 17 in the first half, and pumped stats into every part of the box score. Defensively, she was stout. The 5-foot-11 guard had three of the team’s 10 steals and four of the team’s six blocks. It bested her previous career-high of two.

When asked if they know their wingspans, Aaliyah Edwards jested that Bueckers’ was…

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Glenn Laudenslager III, who has been the coordinator for the Monroe Men’s 35 and over softball league for the past 10 years, has been umpiring and scheduling umpires for adult softball games for the Monroe Parks and Recreation Department for a total of 32 years.

His dedication to the sport has not gone unnoticed. Laudenslager won the Above and Beyond the Call of Duty Award at the Connecticut Recreation and Parks Association’s 63rd Annual Conference, held at the Mohegan Sun Convention Center on Nov. 20 and 21.

Missy Orosz, director of the Monroe Parks and Recreation Department, nominated Laudenslager for the honor.

“Glenn has a gentle soul and loves softball so much,” she wrote in her nomination letter to the CRPA Awards Committee. “He is there for our Friday night program every week keeping an eye on all the games, as well as the 146 players, countless fans and coordinating the umpires. At times he can be seen umpiring if necessary and handling any situation that can arise.”

Laudenslager also schedules umpires for other surrounding communities such as Trumbull and Shelton, according to Orosz.

“What makes Glenn so unique is that back in the Spring of 2019 he suffered a stroke which left him paralyzed on one side,” Orosz said. “He didn’t let that stop him, even though he had to miss the rest of that season. He worked so hard from the hospital, answering calls, doing emails, scheduling games, which forced him in therapy to go the extra mile to work harder.”

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Two Mohegan Lake residents have been charged in separate cases by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

U.S. Attorney Damien Williams announced last week that Gina Mestre, 33, a former New York City police officer, pleaded guilty in connection with her involvement in obstructing a federal investigation into the Shooting Boys gang and serving as an accessory to a murder committed by the gang’s leader.

Mestre could face a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of accessory after the fact to murder in aid of racketeering.

“As she has now admitted, Gina Mestre, a former NYPD Officer, abused her position of public trust and betrayed the oath she took to protect and serve the citizens of New York City by helping a gang member evade capture for a murder of a rival gang member that he committed in broad daylight,” Williams said in a statement.

“When law enforcement officers break the laws they are sworn to uphold, they do a disservice to their fellow officers, to the departments that employ them and to the public they serve.”

As alleged in the indictment, Mestre, a police officer from July 2013 to May 2022, was assigned to the 52nd Precinct’s Public Safety Unit. In the summer of 2020, a major focus of the precinct and the Public Safety Unit was the reduction of gun violence, much of which was committed by members of the Shooting Boys gang.

The Shooting Boys gang is a criminal organization based in the University Heights section of the Bronx. The gang’s territory and base of operations fell within the jurisdiction of the NYPD’s 52nd Precinct. The leader of the Shooting Boys was Andrew Done, a/k/a “Caballo.”

In June 2020, Mestre began communicating with Done through secret social…

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