Hardwick, News

Lady Cats Keep Pace in Division with Twelfth Straight Win

photo by Vanessa Fournier
Hazen Union senior Haylie Michaud aims for the basket surrounded by Williamstown players Natalie Beliveau (left), Courtney Beliveau (back center) and Meliah Hutchinson (right) during action in Hardwick January 26. Hazen outscored their opponents 40-27.

by Ken Brown

WINOOSKI – The Hazen Union girls’ basketball team ran their win streak to an even dozen last week with victories over Winooski and Williamstown, improving to 12-1 on the season.

Junior guard Caitlyn Davison pumped in 22 points and pulled down 16 rebounds to lead the Lady Cats to a series sweep of Winooski last Tuesday with a 71-29 road win. Senior Alexis Christensen drained a trio of threes on her way to a 12 point night and Tessa Luther added 12 of her own, including a pair from long range. Craftsbury Academy’s Ella Gillespie had another solid performance with 11 for Hazen in the win as they raced out to a 46-18 first half lead and poured it on with a 28-8 run in the third quarter. Sam Parris led the Lady Spartans with 22 in the loss as they fell to 0-11.

Davison continues to build upon her VT Dream Dozen selection a season ago with a stellar junior campaign. She is averaging 20 points per game, while running the Lady Cat offense, and crashing the boards relentlessly from the back-court.

The Lady Cats also showed they can win ugly on Thursday night as Davison scored a game-high 13 points in a 40-27 home win over Williamstown. Haley Michaud and Gillespie each added eight points in the win for Hazen as they took a three-point lead into the break and held a 29-20 advantage after three quarters. Destiny Campbell led Williamstown with 11 points and Natalie Beliveau added 10 in the loss as they fell to 5-6 on the season.

“Williamstown was definitely an eye opener for us,” said head coach Randy Lumsden. “We had a good talk about where we are and where we need to be as a team. We play a Blue Mountain program this week that very well could be on a 12-game winning streak themselves by the time we face them,” added Lumsden.

Windsor continues to hang on to the top spot in Division III with a 12-2 record, a nine game win streak of their own, and a stronger schedule than the Lady Cats. Hazen sits at No. 2, followed by Thetford Academy and Peoples Academy, who both have double-digit wins on the season. Lumsden’s squad won’t get a chance to face the top teams in the division until the postseason, but he hopes a pair of matchups with Division IV power Blue Mountain within the Mountain League down the stretch prepares his team for playoff basketball in March.

“There are some strong, athletic teams at the top of our division and we will need to be playing our best basketball in the tournament if we want to hang with the other teams at the top of Division III,” said Lumsden.

Hazen Union welcomes Twinfield-Cabot to the Cat Den on Tuesday before traveling to an 11-1 Blue Mountain team on Thursday night. Both the Lady Bucks and Hazen have yet to lose since dropping their season openers and will play each other twice in the next 10 days to decide who will be Mountain League champs this winter. The Lady Cats will wrap up their week with a home date against BFA-Fairfax on Saturday afternoon.

photo by Vanessa Fournier
Hazen Union senior Alexis Christensen moves the ball up the court past Cadence Tenney (right) of Williamstown during play at home January 26. In the back is Lady Cat Ella Gillespie (No. 23). Hazen defeated Williamstown 40-27.

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