Lady Cat Autumn Dailey advances the ball up the court while looking to pass, followed by Danville players (from left) Phoebe Crocker, Lauren Joncas and Sadie Young. At back (left) of Hazen Union is Sarah Collier. Hazen won 81-19.
HARDWICK – The Hazen Union girls’ basketball team rolled past Danville and Richford for their seventh straight win last week, improving to 8-1 on the season.
Julia des Groseilliers netted a career-high 20 points to power the Lady Cats past Danville 81-19 at the Cat Den last Thursday. The talented sophomore center punished Danville inside, along with freshman teammate Kelsie Rivard, who added 17.
Senior point guard Caitlyn Davison battled through injury in limited minutes to score 16, including a trio of three-pointers.
Craftsbury Academy senior Sadie Skorstad came off the bench to score four. Hazen was locked in from the opening tip, blitzing the Lady Bears with a 34-0 run in the first eight minutes.
Sadie Young and Myah Morgan paced Danville with six points apiece as they fell to 1-7. Hazen swept the season series, outscoring Danville 149-44 in their two meetings.
Rivard continued to be unfazed by her first season in a varsity uniform, pouring in 23 points and pulling down nine rebounds to help Hazen answer their first big divisional road test of the season against Richford over the weekend with a 61-31 win. The talented freshman added six steals and a rare three-pointer to her impressive stat line to help the Lady Cats take a 26-14 advantage into the break.
Hazen Union’s Tessa Luther (right) aims for the basket as teammate Sarah Collier (No. 4) watches the play during a home game January 18. At left is Kendall Hale of Danville. Hazen outscored their opponents 81-19.
Davison added 15 points and seven steals for Hazen as they grew their lead to 18 after three quarters.
Julia des Groseilliers had another solid game inside with 10 points and eight boards.
Sierra Derby paced Richford with 11 and Madison Smith chipped in with nine as they saw their four-game win streak come to an end.
Hazen’s full court and half-court defense was relentless, holding Vermont Dream Dozen selection Kyrielle Deuso to five points. The loss dropped the 7-3 Lady Rockets to fourth in the current Division III standings.
Head coach Randy Lumsden has lost only two regular season games since taking over the Lady Cat program last winter and liked the approach his team took in what was a pivotal division matchup on the road.
“Our focus from the start of the season has been on the defensive end. We knew that offensively we would come together with time, but if we wanted to become the best version of ourselves, we would have to buy in defensively. Our rotations have steadily improved throughout the season. We still have some work to do, but happy with the win and happy with our progress,” said Lumsden.
Hazen’s win streak keeps them at the No. 2 spot in the current divisional standings behind 10-1 Windsor. Third seeded Thetford Academy sits at 7-2 and handed the defending Division III champs their first loss of the season last week.
The Lady Cats traveled to Williamstown on Tuesday and will welcome an upstart 7-2 Twinfield-Cabot team to town on Thursday night. They wrap up a busy week with a trip to Blue Mountain on Saturday afternoon.
