STOWE – The Hazen Union girls basketball team reeled off their 23rd straight win in lopsided fashion last week, blitzing Stowe to run their record to 4-0.
Julia des Groseilliers and Mya Lumsden led the way with 15 points apiece as the Lady Cats demolished Stowe on the road last Thursday 85-12. Kelsie Rivard added 11 points in limited action as Hazen started the game on a 20-4 run, took a 46-6 lead into the break, and completely extinguished all hope of a miraculous comeback with a 24-2 third quarter run. Autumn Dailey continued her fine play in her sophomore season with 8 points and Baylee Christensen, Ella Renaud, Isabelle Gouin, and Ari Nichols each tallied 6 points in the win. The Lady Raiders fell to 0-6 on the season.
“All 12 of our girls scored in the game, which was really great to see,” said head coach Randy Lumsden.
Lumsden’s biggest challenge so far to keeping his team sharp to defend their Division III title has been the weather. Hazen had their second game of the season postponed earlier in the week, a home match-up against Enosburg. The week before, their highly anticipated match-up against defending Division IV champ West Rutland was also postponed due to snowy conditions. Enosburg will now visit the Cat Den, February 3, and Hazen will make the trip to West Rutland on February 8. Windsor, Hazen, and Oxbow remain at the top of the Division III standings as the only teams with unblemished records. Lumsden’s young and talented squad has outscored its opponents 274-103 in their first four games, with Peoples Academy giving them their toughest test of the season at the Winter Solstice Classic at the Barre Auditorium. The third-year head coach will look to keep his team ready with tough practices leading up to their upcoming matchup with a Richford team that made it to the Final Four last March.
“We are really looking forward to our matchup with Richford this week. They are a solid team again this year after making an impressive run to Barre last season. We will definitely have to be clicking on all cylinders for this one,” said Lumsden.
Hazen hosted Richford on Tuesday and will have another break until their next road matchup against BFA-Fairfax next Thursday. All home games can be streamed on Hardwick Community Television (hctv.us).