Lady Cat Taylor Thompson aims for the basket as Danville’s Phoebe Crocker (center) and Lynsey Lavely (right) and official Malcolm Cheney follow the play. Hazen Union’s Sadie Skorstad is at back left. Hazen outscored Danville 68-25.
by Ken Brown
DANVILLE – The Hazen Union girls’ basketball team made quick work of Danville in their season opener last week behind a stifling defense.
Senior point guard Caitlyn Davison poured in a game-high 23 points to power Hazen to a dominant 68-25 road win over the Lady Bears last Tuesday. The Lady Cats opened the game with a 13-0 run and used suffocating full court pressure to take a 15-2 lead after the first quarter.
Davison’s 14 and freshman Kelsie Rivard’s nine helped the visitors break the game open in the second to take a 31-7 advantage into the break. Davison and fellow senior Tessa Luther, along with junior Julia des Groseilliers, joined Rivard and freshman Mya Lumsden in the starting lineup for head coach Randy Lumsden.
“We’re still working on a set starting lineup and it will change a little early on in the season from game to game. We have three girls really battling for that fifth spot and they’re all very capable and as a coach that is a good problem to have. It was a really good start for us defensively and that is what we’ve been focused on as a team in practice. We haven’t even touched on our offensive sets yet, but the girls were sharp on the defensive end and that’s what I was looking for,” said Lumsden.
Kelsie Rivard of Hazen Union rushes up the court and heads for the basket as Danville’s Phoebe Crocker (center) and Myah Morgan (right) follow. The Lady Cats beat the Bears at Danville, December 12, 68-25.
Rivard finished her varsity debut with 17 points, sophomore Isabelle Gouin added nine, and freshmen Taylor Thompson and Autumn Dailey combined for 13 in the win for Hazen. Lauren Joncas led Danville with nine points and seven boards, Kendall Hale and Sadie Young chipped in with five apiece in the loss. Lumsden’s squad has gotten more athletic this season from top to bottom, but he admits that it will be a work in progress replacing the long-range shooting of graduated Mountain League First Teamer Alexis Christensen.
“Alexis made some big shots for us down the stretch last season and it will take time to find that outside scorer outside of Caitlyn. Teams will challenge athleticism with zones and we’ll have to adjust to that throughout the season. This is a dynamic athletic group and I was happy with the hustle they showed on both ends of the court. Kelsie was tremendous in her varsity debut and she’s only going to continue to improve. Caitlyn was solid in running the offense and five-for-six from the line, but the rest of the team missed 13 of 23 foul shots and that isn’t going to get it done in a close game. We got out of there healthy and we’re excited for the next challenge,” said Lumsden.
The Lady Cats traveled to Lyndon Institute on Tuesday and will square off against Peoples Academy in the Winter Solstice at the Barre Auditorium on Saturday. Both Hazen girls’ and boys’, along with Montpelier and Spaulding will compete in the inaugural High School Basketball Classic created by Hardwick Academy alum Jimmy McWilliam.
“We’re excited to matchup against Peoples Academy and the girls’ are definitely excited to get the opportunity to play at the ‘Aud’,” said Lumsden.
