BARRE – In an overtime thriller for the ages, the Hazen Union girls basketball team dethroned Windsor for a second time in three years to lay claim to the Division III state championship crown.
photo by Vanessa Fournier
Junior Kelsie Rivard continued to set new records at the Barre Auditorium, pouring in 30 points and corralling an eyepopping 24 rebounds to power the Lady Cats to a 55-53 overtime win over Windsor Saturday night. Rivard needed to sink the back end of a pair of free throws with just over four seconds remaining in regulation, just to give Hazen a chance in overtime. The freshly minted 1,000-point scorer hit nothing but net in one of the biggest pressure cookers in Vermont high school basketball and found herself right back at the line in the waning seconds of overtime. After securing her twenty-fourth rebound of the night off a Cassie Clark, missed three, Rivard was fouled at half-court with 2.4 seconds left. Rivard stepped to the line and calmly swished both free throws and Windsor never got off a shot as the buzzer sounded. Rivard was a freshman phenom in the Lady Cats 2023-24 Division III state championship run, the program’s first in over three decades. She set a freshman record with 33 points in her Aud debut, and she and her young teammates leaned heavily on Hazen all-time great Caityln Davison and her 34 points in the title game. The target and the pressure was all on her this time around and boy was she ready.
“Stepping to the line at the end of regulation needing to make that free throw, it was a feeling I can’t even put into words,” said Rivard. “The rush, the adrenaline and the crowd, it was just unreal. Seeing our community, my teammates and our coaches all show up in that moment meant everything to me. I knew I had to step up. That was the kind of moment I’ve been dreaming about since elementary school,”
photo by Vanessa Fournier
The top two teams in Division III got primetime billing as the Aud’s nightcap from the Vermont Principals Association (VPA) and didn’t disappoint. In what became an impossible game to cleanly officiate between two teams that love to press and run, 38 fouls were called on the night, and there could’ve been more. Hazen took a 14-10 edge into the second quarter but lost junior Autumn Dailey (three points) to foul trouble just three and a half minutes into the contest. Star senior Amelia Rockwood (13 points) and fellow senior Cassie Clark (11) knotted the game at 14-14 before a beautiful feed from Isabelle Gouin (three points) to Taylor Thompson (7), capped off by Rivard’s only three of the night, made it 21-14 Hazen midway through the second. Callie Spaulding (14 points) banked it in from long distance and freshman Addi Crane (9) connected on one of her two 3-pointers on the night to cut the Lady Cat lead to 23-21 at the half. Bad passes and turnovers appeared to infect Hazen’s entire team for most of the third quarter as Rockwood knifed through the lane to give Windsor a 29-27 lead with 3:45 left. Junior Maya Lumsden (12 points) stopped the bleeding with one of the biggest shots of the night, nailing a step back three from the left corner to give Hazen back the lead at 30-29. A monster offensive board, finish and one by Rivard erased a two-point lead by Windsor with two minutes left but Clark drilled another three and Rockwood solved the Lady Cat defense again to give the defending champs a 37-33 advantage with eight minutes to play. Hazen head coach Randy Lumsden knew he had to calm his team down after a sloppy third quarter.
“We got a little rattled in the third and gave them a lot of extra opportunities with turnovers. I just wanted to remind them to relax and breathe. In the end, it’s just a game and they’ve all been through these moments before. Let’s stay composed and run our stuff,” said Lumsden.
photo by Vanessa Fournier
Rivard set the tone at the beginning of the fourth, finishing strong off a perfect seal from senior Julia des Groseilliers and in a 30 second blur, Gouin and Thompson finished off steals that gave Hazen the lead at 39-37 with six minutes left. Windsor put Hazen into the bonus with their fifth foul at the midway point and Thompson capitalized immediately, capping off an 8-0 run to start the quarter with a pair of made free throws. Five straight points from Crane and another deep ball from Spaulding gave Windsor a 46-45 lead with 1:15 to play and a chance to salt the game away. The Lady Cats trapped but didn’t foul and as time ran down, Lumsden had one of the plays of the championship, stripping Rockwood from behind and going the distance to send the Lady Cat fan section into a deafening frenzy and a 47-46 lead with 31.5 left. Rockwood went coast to coast for a quick answer and Rivard was fouled with 4.4, making 1-2 free throws to send the game into an extra period at 48-48. Spaulding gave Windsor an early lead at the start of overtime, but another Rivard free throw and a Lumsden gather and finish off her own blocked shot gave Hazen back the lead at 51-50 with two minutes left. Gouin committed her fifth foul on Clark with just under a minute left and she netted both free throws for a 53-51 lead. A Lumsden turnover led to a pair of missed free throws by Windsor and Rivard literally muscled her way to the rim at the other end to tie it at 53-53 in the closing seconds. Clark’s missed three was short off the front rim and Rivard hauled it in with a head of steam before getting knocked to the floor by multiple Lady Yellowjacket defenders with 2.4 remaining. After Rivard made both free throws, Windsor inbounded the ball too close to their sideline and never got off a shot. Windsor was gunning for their fourth state title in head coach Kabray Rockwood’s fifth year on the sidelines as their season came to an end at 17-7. Lumsden’s talented squad secured their fourth straight 20-win season and second division III state championship since he took over the program four years ago. His senior class led by Gouin, des Groseilliers, Ella Renaud, Sadie Gann and Ari Nichols will graduate in the spring having never lost a home game at the Cat Den in their outstanding high school basketball careers.
“I think that basketball game may have taken five years off my life,” Lumsden joked. “Just two of the most physical teams in Division III basketball going at it until the end. There were so many defining plays throughout that led to us winning that game and I’m so proud of these girls for what they accomplished this season and the character they showed collectively as a team. Kabray runs such a class act program over there, they only know winning and they do it the right way. These two teams have created a heavyweight North-South state rivalry in girls basketball. It’s going to continue and it’s great for Vermont high school basketball. This particular group persevered through a lot this season and for them to come out the other end on top is special. This will be their state championship for the rest of their lives.”
