BARRE – Former multisport Cabot high school legend Billy Waller and his Vergennes girls basketball team put up a valiant effort against eventual Division III champion Hazen Union last week before running out of steam in what was their first trip back to the Aud since 2021.
Waller’s fifth-ranked Lady Commodores gave Hazen all they could handle in the first half last Thursday, taking a 19-16 lead into the break before ultimately falling 55-39. Kelsie Rivard led Hazen with 20 points and 11 rebounds, Isabelle Gouin complimented with 10 points, Taylor Thompson added eight points and seven assists and Julia des Groseilliers chipped in with eight points in the paint. Ayla Kittredge led Vergennes with 12 and 1,000-point scorer Ashtin Stearns added seven in the loss as their season came to an end at 17-6.
“Billy runs a good program over there and the modified triangle-and-two he used against us in the first half really disrupted our offensive flow. We were able to figure it out at the break, putting Kelsie and Julia down on the block, which opened up some space for us. We did a nice job limiting Stearns outside shooting and overall, clamped down defensively in the second half,” said head coach Randy Lumsden.
Waller will lose a core of seniors from this season’s Final Four team but will return his talented freshman Kittredge, along with the post presence of junior Georgia Krause.
