Hazen Union Lady Cat Tessa Luther (No. 2) controls the ball up the home court Friday against Lauren Joy of Blue Mountain. Hazen got by Blue Mountain 51-40.
by Ken Brown
NORTHFIELD – Caitlyn Davison and Alexis Christensen powered the Lady Cat offense in wins against Northfield and Blue Mountain last week as the Hazen Union girls’ basketball team ran their amazing winning streak to 16 games.
Junior point guard Caitlyn Davison recorded her second triple-double double of the season and senior Alexis Christensen connected three times from long range to lead Hazen to a dominant 60-20 road win over Northfield last Tuesday. Davison and Christensen led a balanced scoring attack with 21 points apiece, with Davison adding 14 rebounds and 10 assists to her impressive stat line. The Lady Cats raced out to a 30-10 halftime lead as Craftsbury Academy’s Ella Gillespie added eight points and freshman Julia des Groseilliers chipped in with six. The loss dropped the Lady Marauders to 4-10 on the season.
Davison continued her impressive junior campaign on Saturday afternoon with a 25 point 12 rebound performance to help Hazen sweep the season series from division IV contender Blue Mountain 51-40. The Lady Bucks held a three-point lead after eight minutes and led 22-20 at the break. Davison hit a trio of 3-pointers in the second half to lead the Lady Cats on an 11-4 to retake the lead and broke the game open with a 20 point fourth-quarter.
“Blue Mountain came out with a lot energy and an 8-0 run to start the game, but we clawed our way back to end the first quarter. It was our first time trailing at halftime all season, but Caitlyn did a great job in the second half of controlling the pace and helping our offense create good shots.”
Haley Michaud had a strong game inside for Hazen with nine points and Gillespie chipped in with six in the win. Kyra Nelson led the Lady Bucks with 16 points and seven rebounds and Felicity Sulham and Karli Blood added nine points apiece. Blue Mountain’s only two losses the last two and a half months have been to the Lady Cats, but they remain one of the top teams in their division with a 14-3 record. It was the final real regular season test for first year head coach Randy Lumsden and his squad as they ready themselves for the rigors of the Division III postseason.
“Tessa Luther did a great job guarding one of their top scorers Jordan Alley, holding her to four points. Haley and Ella were great in the paint defensively, not giving up any easy baskets. We were 11-13 from the line in fourth quarter and Alexis came up with some huge steals down the stretch to seal the game. Blue Mountain is a very good basketball team and gave us two very competitive games the last two weeks that will definitely help us as we get ready to make our playoff run,” said Lumsden.
Hazen Union remains the second ranked team in their division behind 16-2 Windsor and the upcoming tournament promises to be highly competitive with five double-digit win teams below them. Hazen looked to run their winning streak to 17 straight games, including one forfeit on Monday as they welcomed Milton to wrap up the regular season at the Cat Den for Senior Night.
