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Sports

Portland's Dionne Looking to End Career on a High Note

Senior Co-Captain does whatever it takes for her team to win

Lindsey Dionne first got interested in basketball when she was in the fourth grade.  Many children at that age will try many sports to sample what options there are when it comes to athletics.  Not Dionne, with the exception of being on a YMCA swim team so she could learn how to swim, the only sport for her was basketball.

When you sit down and talk with Lindsey you can see it in her eyes and hear it in her voice that she is very competitive and focussed on winning and doing whatever she can to contribute.

"Lindsey has been very competitive from the start when she played in Parks & Rec," Portland assistant coach Diane Coleman said.

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Said coach Nick Chaconis: "We have great senior leadership and Lindsey is the kind of player that more often than not will make the key steal or make the key shot or make the key pass and that's who Lindsey is game in and game out."

Lindsey has done the most with her opportunities on the basketball court and has been a pivotal piece to the success that Chaconis' team has had the past four years.

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When Lindsey isn't suiting up for Portland, she has played during the summer and fall in a Hartford League, where she is coached by her dad, Bob Dionne. 

"My Dad is a little tougher on me but it's for the right reasons and I am a better player because of it.  I know that if I don't give 100 percent then I'll spend some time on the bench to think about it."

After arriving at Portland High School, Chaconis said Dionne had the kind of skill set where she could contribute right away.

"She earned her game minutes in practice and was able to help the team with her strong defensive play and spark off the bench as a freshman," Chaconis said. "Over her career she has developed into a leader on and off the floor. Lindsey is our vocal leader and has done a good job with taking the younger plays under her wing to help them out."

As Chaconis points out, Dionne has continued to improve each year and this season has averaged 13.3 points, 4.9 rebounds,  2.8 assists and 1.7 steals a game to support her reputation as an all-around player.

Said Coleman: "She can do whatever we ask of her and do it well.  She's a very important part of our success. Lindsey is always hustling and gives our team a spark. She has become more patient and lets the game come to her."

Chaconis praised Dionne's ability to do all the little things that cannot be coached, but are executed on instinct alone. 

"Lindsey has a high basketball IQ and knows what's going to happen before it does and knows where her teammates will be before they are there," Chaconis said. "What I have seen, is Lindsey will not let an off-night, let's just say shooting, effect her defense, rebounding, passing and so forth."

So, how does she adjust when her shot isn't falling?

"When I am not scoring then it's my job to make sure that the player that I am guarding doesn't score either," Dionne said. "I know there will be nights when I can help my team win in other ways and that's what it's all about, winning."

At this stage of her career, Dionne knows she has a chance to play one more game or four as the team gets ready for state tournament play.  Dionne wants to see a banner hanging in the David L. Bengston gymnasium for winning this year's Class S state championship.  That goal eluded her and her teammates by two points last March when the Lady Highlanders fell to St. Paul, 39-37.

A long time ago Dionne developed the attitude that each game could be your last and plays the game that way.

"Lindsey plays every game at 100 percent and leaves everything she has out on the floor," Chaconis said.

Dionne's team attitude runs rampant throughout the Lady Highlanders as no one on this team uses the word I or me, it's always us, we and our when pushed to speak about any personal goals or accomplishments.

"This year's team might be a little closer than last year's team because we all have played together since middle school, but last year's seniors still come back and perform our pregame rituals with us," Dionne said.

What rituals?

"We do some yoga to get loose and we each have a unique chant for each other," she said.

Dionne's biggest basketball memory is last year's State championship game when they played at the Mohegan Sun Arena. Lindsey got a little nostalgic when talking about that night and she commented on all the great players that dressed in the locker room and played on the floor.

"Sitting in the locker room before the game was definately nerve wracking.  You watch the Connecticut Sun play on TV and never think that you would play on the same floor.  I can remember thinking that UConn greats, Diana Taurasi and Renee Montgomery to name a few, played here, and now we are here.

"I want to get back there."

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