Basketball, Sports

Hazen Girls Handle Lady Trojans to Remain Perfect

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MARSHFIELD – The Hazen Union girls basketball team steamrolled through Williamstown and Twinfield-Cabot last week to improve to 10-0 on the season, making it an unprecedented 29 straight wins for the defending Division III champs.

Hazen Union Lady Cat Kelsie Rivard (right) releases the ball as Carley Mancini (left) of Twinfield-Cabot plays defense at Twinfield Union, February 1. Hazen prevailed 71-32.
photo by Vanessa Fournier

Kelsie Rivard continued to power the offense with a 16-point, seven rebound effort last Tuesday as the Lady Cats raced past Williamstown at home 65-23. Junior Isabelle Gouin smothered the Lady Blue Devils with 15 points and seven steals and sophomore Mya Lumsden was equally as impressive with a 15-point performance, while blocking four shots in the win. Hazen started the game on a 20-4 run and never looked back, ending Williamstown’s five game winning streak, dropping them to 6-5 on the season.

“It’s great to see our team continue to add scoring depth as the season goes on. Kelsie has been outstanding scoring the basketball for us, but we don’t want to be a single scoring option team as the competition stiffens heading into the tournament. Continuing to develop multiple scoring options is going to allow us to spread out defenses and give us a chance to play our best basketball,” said head coach Randy Lumsden.

Autumn Dailey (No. 10) of Hazen Union is surrounded by Twinfield-Cabot players (from left): Birtu Lindert-Boyes, Jorja Washburn, Sophia Mancini and Chloe North during action held at Twinfield Saturday. Hazen won 71-32.

That depth was on full display Saturday as four players posted double-digit scoring nights to lead the Lady Cats to a dominant 71-32 road win over Twinfield-Cabot. Rivard and Lumsden led the way with 15 points apiece, Gouin was strong again with a 14-point night, and sophomore Autumn Dailey added 12 in the win. Hazen took the crowd out of it early, blitzing the Lady Trojans with five three-pointers in the first quarter, and the rout was on. Lumsden, Rivard, Gouin and Dailey combined for nine threes on the night, with lone senior Baylie Christensen also connecting from long range to push the team total to 10.

Kendall Fowler and Jorja Washburn led Twinfield-Cabot with 10 points apiece in the loss as they fell to 4-5 on the season.

Chloe North (left) of Twinfield-Cabot heads toward the basket past Hazen Union’s Isabelle Gouin (center) during a February 1 game at Twinfield. At left is official Joe Blais and at right is Kendall Fowler of the Trojans. The Lady Cats defeated their opponents, 71-32.
photo by Vanessa Fournier

Despite Hazen’s unblemished record, they remain third in the current Division III standings behind Windsor and Oxbow. Inclement weather has cancelled numerous games for programs around the state this winter and Lumsden’s young team is now facing the challenge of making up those games in a sprint to the finish by season’s end. The crunch starts this week with four games, ending with a showdown of champions on Saturday as the Lady Cats travel to defending Division IV champion West Rutland.

“After this past Saturday it will end up being five games in eight days, which isn’t ideal. A lot of these young girls came up through AAU, so they’re used to it and excited for that many games, but from a coach’s perspective, it makes it extremely difficult to have the time to prep, practice, and game plan from game to game. We’re a little banged up heading into the week with some injuries and sickness, but overall, we’re pretty healthy and looking forward to the challenge,” said Lumsden.

Twinfield-Cabot’s Finley Washburn (No. 12) brings the ball up the court defended by Ella Renaud of Hazen Union during a game held Saturday at Twinfield. Hazen beat Twinfield-Cabot 71-32.
photo by Vanessa Fournier

Twinfield-Cabot looked to get back on track against a stingy Richford team on Tuesday and will welcome Winooski to town on Thursday night. Hazen hosted Enosburg and Stowe on Monday and are scheduled to travel to Blue Mountain and West Rutland on Friday and Saturday. All Hazen home games can be streamed on Hardwick Community Television (hctv.us).

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