The Twinfield-Cabot girls team ended their season with a record of 13-8. Members of the team included, front row (left to right) Trinity Madison, Sarah Austin, Finley Washburn, Chloe North, Caroline Fucello and Birtu Lindert-Boyes; back row (left to right) head coach Jack Whalen, Carley Mancini, Jorja Washburn, Kendall Fowler, Alice McLane, Teagan Trader, Haylee North, manager Sophia Mancini and assistant coach Mark Mooney. Missing was assistant coach Marianna Ponziani.
WILLIAMSTOWN – The Twinfield-Cabot girls’ basketball team took care of business against Danville in the first round of the Division IV playoffs last week and came within one possession at Williamstown of making it to the Barre Auditorium, in what has truly been a Cinderella season for first year Head Coach Jack Whalen and his program.
Jorja Washburn poured in a game-high 19 points to lead the Lady Trojans to a 61-46 home win against Danville to open the postseason last Tuesday. Senior Alice McLane added a solid 16 points inside and point guard Carley Mancini ran the Twinfield-Cabot offense with an efficient 12 in the win.
Kendall Fowler chipped in with 10 points, including a three to round out a balanced scoring attack, as the Lady Trojans opened the game with a 24-9 run and never looked back.
Lynsey Lavely (14 points) and Lauren Joncas (13) combined for five threes in the third quarter to mount a comeback, but Washburn and McLane answered every run by the Lady Bears. Danville ended their season at 6-14.
Twinfield-Cabot’s Jorja Washburn (right) rushes the ball past Lauren Joncas of Danville during a play-down game at Twinfield February 27. The Trojans outscored the Bears 61-46.
“I’m so proud of these Twinfield-Cabot Lady Trojans! This is a fun, coachable, engaged, hardworking group of kids who got better every single week this season. They gave this season and each other their all and it was great to see them earn a win in the postseason,” said Whalen.
The upstart Lady Trojans had the Barre Auditorium in clear focus on Friday night, but Courtney Townsend snatched it away with some big-time shots down the stretch to help her fourth seeded Williamstown team escape with a 42-39 quarterfinal win.
McLane ended her high school career in style with a game-high 17 points, giving the Lady Trojans a 35-30 lead with five minutes left to play.
Mancini and the Twinfield-Cabot defense held Lady Blue Devil leading scorer Destiny Campbell in check the entire game, but Townsend rose up to hit back-to-back three’s and Sooka Mancini buried the eventual game winner with less than a minute to go, as Williamstown would survive and advance.
Paige Dwinell added 10 important points in the win as Williamstown won the last two match-ups against the Lady Trojans by a combined eight points.
Kendall Fowler chipped in with 10 points for Twinfield-Cabot as their season ends at 13-8.
Whalen and his Lady Trojan squad secured the program’s first winning season in over a decade this past winter. He knows his team will feel the loss of McLane to graduation after a stellar senior campaign that led her team in rebounding and scoring, but he loves the energy, vibes, and work ethic of his returning core of players.
“Obviously not the ending we wanted; the girls really wanted to play in Barre. Even though we came up just short, this team showed they were capable of great things. Alice was an amazing leader who played with heart and made everyone around her better. We will miss her greatly and this team will look a lot different next year, but we will be back next season with a good core of players with experience. I couldn’t have asked for a better group in my first year as head coach and I hope I was able to spark something into the girls’ program here at Twinfield-Cabot. The off-season may have just started but I’m ready for next year, and I want to continue to build on a positive winning culture in these communities,” said Whalen.
Williamstown squared off against top seeded Long Trail in the semifinal round at the Barre Auditorium on Monday night.
