Date: Fri 09-Jul-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: KIMH

Quick Words:

Lynn-Lattanzio

Full Text:

Lynn Lattanzio -- Hall of Fame 1999

BY KIM J. HARMON

The legacy of Lynn Lattanzio lives on ... even now, seven years after she

graduated from Newtown High School and seven years after she became the first

-- and so far only -- female to score 1,000 points in her basketball career.

The the late winter of the 1988-89 school year, the mantle of leadership for

the NHS girls' basketball team was passed from Kasey Keating to Lattanzio.

Keating had just finished a remarkable senior season in which she scored a

school-record 500 points, enabling her to finish her four-year career with 913

points.

Keating had been at the top of the chart.

And then it was Lattanzio's turn.

The Lady Indians -- as they were known then -- were in the first year of what

would turn out to be a pretty thorough rebuilding program and Lattanzio, only

a sophomore, would need to carry the team. She scored 292 points that year,

still a record for sophomores, and then added 316 more her junior year (also a

record until bettered by Erica Hanson during the 1994-95 season).

That gave her 660 for her career, only 254 points away from eclipsing her

former teammate.

She got those 254 ... and then 201 more, finishing her career with 1,115

points. Even the last seven years, Newtown High has fielding many good

basketball teams, but no player -- not even Katie Lyddy, who finished with 896

points and graduated in 1995 -- could reach the bar set by Lattanzio.

The legacy lives on.

But Lattanzio's athletic career at Newtown High did not encompass only

basketball. No, she was also a great soccer player and, bolstered by the

presence of some exceptional teammates, helped lead the Lady Indians through

some fine seasons.

With Melanie Huss (Hall of Fame, 1997) hobbled a bit, Lattanzio -- who scored

three goals as a freshman and seven more as a sophomore -- had her best season

with 14 goals as the Lady Indians went 9-5-1.

In 1990, the first year of the old Western Connecticut Conference semi-final

playoff system, Lattanzio was part of the team that defeated Brookfield and

Weston to claim the league championship. And in the second round of the state

tournament, in a 4-2 loss to nationally-ranked Manchester (which had not

allowed a goal all season), Lattanzio scored both Newtown goals on direct

kicks against a gale-force wind.

Lattanzio returned as a senior captain in 1991 and led the Lady Indians with

15 goals on the way to an All-State season.

A brilliant athletic career would not end with graduation, however. In October

of 1991, before her final season with the NHS basketball team, Lattanzio

signed a National Letter of Intent to play for the St. John's women's

basketball team.

The career would continue.

"When I signed in October," said Lynn back in 1996, "it was such a relief to

get everything out of the way. Recruiting is such a whirlwind, but in my last

year I was able to concentrate on other things ... on basketball."

While she would not be the workhorse or the sole force of the team that she

was in high school, Lattanzio would make the adjustment.

"It wasn't too hard," she said at the time, "because I knew coming in, as a

freshman, that I wouldn't play much and I totally accepted that. It was tough

going from where you're the leading scorer to being 12th off the bench, but

it's an adjustment you have to make and even though some people find it hard,

I knew it was going to happen."

As a freshman at St. John's, she scored just 43 points and averaged 1.5 a

game. As a sophomore, that climbed a bit to 116 points and 4.1 a game, Then,

as a junior, Lynn started becoming more of a team leader and had a good year,

scoring 152 points and 5.6 a game.

"I'm happy with the way and how much I have played," said Lynn, who had to

find new dimensions to her game -- like an outside shot -- if she were to help

the team succeed. "I knew I would never be a leading scorer or the go-to

person, but I accepted that role as a player, that I was not going to a big

Division I scorer. It was something I thought about when I was being

recruited. I had a choice of going to a lower Division I or Division II

school, or go to a Big East school, and I took that challenge fully knowing

what to expect."

In her senior year, though, Lynn -- a tri-captain -- became an integral part

of the St. John's offense. She scored 157 points, averaged 6.5 a game, and put

up efforts of 25 (against Niagara), 17 (against Boston College and Mississippi

Valley), and 14 (against Buffalo) -- all game-highs -- even as the Red Storm

women fought for ways to win.

In Lynn's four-year career, as the Red Storm went 41-69, her statistics read

165-of-404 (41%) from the floor and 138-of-242 from the free throw line (57%)

for 468 points. She finished with 441 rebounds, 79 assists, 81 steals and five

blocks.

Be it basketball or soccer, Lynn Lattanzio distinguished herself as one of the

best athletes to play at Newtown High School and for the legacy left behind,

she has been named to the Newtown Sports Hall of Fame.