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It was a special occasion for the St. Paul girls basketball team on Friday night, and the whole family was invited.
Many past players, former assistant coaches and long-time friends were present in the St. Paul gym as the Falcons easily flew past visiting Seymour 63-20, giving head coach Joe Mone the 200th victory of his career at the school.
As the game drew to its end, the players held up photocopied pictures of coach Mone’s face on wooden sticks in front of their own. A group of students in the crowd chanted his name. When the final buzzer sounded, the confetti flew and cake was served.
“I absolutely wanted to be here for his 200th [victory],” said Rebecca (Parsons) Bottino, one of coach Mone’s first captains after he took over the team during her junior year of 1995-96.
“I was sitting in the bleachers watching the game, thinking about how we only had him for two seasons, but what an impact he’s made on just me, personally,” she said.
“It goes beyond the court, everything. The mentality of being a team player and just belonging to like a smaller community. It’s huge, and I can see it with his team and on his bench, just what he brings to not only the game, but to the small family of girls basketball at St. Paul.”
Adele Ruel, one of the team’s senior captains, said seeing the former players return “just goes to show you that he’s done something that would make them come back.”
She added, “He’s very supportive. He wants us to well in life, all aspects, not just basketball. ... I think it’s good for us to have a role model like him as a coach.”
The feeling of being part of an extended family was shared even by coach Mone’s actual daughter Chelsea Mone, one of the team’s senior captains.
“I think just being around the team in general, it’s not only like having 10, 15 teammates, it’s actually like having a real family, and like sisters,” she said.
Growing up with the Falcon’s head coach as her father, Chelsea Mone said she was there every day in the gym and traveled on the bus to games.
“I was around 24/7,” she said.
She was also present to witness his 150th victory, but not as a player.
“It means more to actually be on the team, be a part of it,” she said. “I think it’s an amazing thing to be able to celebrate something like [the 200th victory] with your dad.”
Coach Mone said, “It’s nice to do it having my daughter on the team. It’s the last time I’ll probably get to coach her, so it’s nice to be able to share some successes with her, as well as the other kids.”
Coach Mone said he’s never had goals in mind in terms of wins and losses, especially when he first came to St. Paul.
“I wanted to build a competitive program that would always be competitive and considered one of the better teams,” he said. “The 200 wins are nice. It’s not why I coach. I coach for the kids.
“They work hard. I’d like to take credit for all the wins, but I don’t think I won one game,” he said. “They do it. ... They grab the rebounds, they make the assists, they score the baskets.”
But Bottino, for one, said coach Mone deserves more credit than he seemed willing to take.
“He came in my junior year, when I think the most wins we had was about four wins per season. He’s obviously turned them around quite a bit,” she said.
“I was a little apprehensive when he first joined St. Paul, because he had quite a reputation already in Bristol, and I don’t know if we were ready for it,” Bottino said.
She added that she remembers being in college and reading about the team going to the state Class S finals and thinking it was not the same team she had been on.
In 1997-98, Mone’s third season as head coach, St. Paul had a 17-1 regular season and advanced to the Class S finals. The following season the Falcons fell in the semifinals after a 19-1 regular season, but in 1999-00 St. Paul again advanced to the state championship game after a 19-1 regular season.
Finally, in 2000-01, the Falcons won the Class S title with a 42-31 victory over Old Saybrook in the championship game.
Considering the Falcons won just 10 games during her final two years with the team, Bottino said, “For him to be at 200 now, he deserves all the recognition. He’s a great guy and a great coach.”
For his part, coach Mone credits some of his earliest players — including Becky Parsons, Megan O’Brien, Kerry Benoit, Megan Phelps, Erin Phelps and Mary-Kate Stich — with being the foundation for a program built on hard work and a tradition of success.
“They were the building blocks, and they got us going. They set the tone,” coach Mone said.
A key component of the Falcons’ state runs at the turn of the century was Liz Stich, who remains the only player in program history to top the 1,000-point mark.
“I’m happy for [the players] more than myself,” coach Mone said.
“I’ve had some great, great players over the years. I’ve had some really good teams. 200 wins don’t come unless you’ve had some players.”
This year’s strong group of seniors struggled with the team as freshmen, but have improved each season to emerge as a state title contender this season with a 14-1 record.
“It’s a special group to get that 200th win,” coach Mone said. “They have an opportunity to do something special this year. They believe they’re a good team, which is the first step, and they’re starting to play like it.”
St. Paul was led offensively in the game by Ruel (13 points), Rebecca Ferland (10), Amber Litwinko (8), Emily Camden (7), Mone (6), Claire Consonni (6) and Courtney Lobo (4).
Seymour (2-13) was led by Christina Cretella’s
By PAUL ANGILLY
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Athletics 
