by Ken Brown
NORTHEAST KINGDOM – The Hazen Union girls’ basketball team put a bow on a spectacular season earlier this month, taking home some of the top hardware in the year end Mountain League honors.
Junior point guard Caitlyn Davison and first-year head coach Randy Lumsden were awarded top honors in the Mountain League after guiding the Lady Cats to a 20-win season and a trip to the Division III Final Four. Davison was stellar for Hazen in her junior campaign, averaging just over 20 points per game on the season and was named Mountain League Player of the Year for her efforts. Davison was also a First Team selection along with her senior back-court mate Alexis Christensen. Christensen broke onto the varsity playoff scene with a career-high 22-point performance as a freshman and has been a double-digit scorer and long-range sniper for the Lady Cats ever since. Joining Davison and Christensen as First Team selections were Jordan Alley and Kyra Nelson (Blue Mountain), Marlie Bushey (Milton), and Richford’s Sierra Derby.
“My ability to get to the rim has improved significantly since last year and throughout the season my shooting from the arc has improved. Our three seniors were tremendous role models to our underclassmen all season. They helped make everyone better in practice and it showed on the court! Myself, as well as the entire team couldn’t be more grateful and proud to have had them as teammates,” said Davison.
Lumsden, a former Wildcat champion as a player and nearly a 1,000-point career scorer, brought an edge to the program on both sides of the ball in his first year on the sidelines. After a road loss to Enosburg to open their season, his squad reeled off 20 straight wins (including a forfeit) all the way to the Barre Auditorium. The Lady Cats also won the Mountain League regular season title and he was named Coach of the Year. Outstanding Freshman Rookie of the Year went to Milton’s Marlie Bushey, Defensive Team of the Year went to Blue Mountain, and BFA-Fairfax, Milton, and Stowe were honored for team sportsmanship.
“We had a phenomenal year. The work ethic and dedication this team had was immeasurable. The three seniors we are losing will not be easy to replace, but we have an extremely talented group coming in that will add speed and agility to accompany Caitlyn, Tessa, Sarah Collier, and Sadie Skorstad,” said Lumsden.
Craftsbury Academy senior Ellas Gillespie was a key cog in the starting lineup for Hazen Union this past season and led the Second Team selections for her efforts. Joining her on the Second Team were: Laci Potter (Danville), Destiny Campbell (Williamstown), Kyrielle Deuso (Richford), Emma Korrow (Northfield), Parker Reeves (Stowe), Maeli Rutherford (Milton), Felicity Sulham (Blue Mountain), BFA-Fairfax’s Forest Skillman and Anna Villenueve.
Junior Tessa Luther and senior teammate Haley Michaud led Third Team selections for the Lady Cats. Luther’s improvement as a long-range shooter made her a mainstay in the starting lineup all season and Michaud did all the dirty work inside for a team that lacked size. Earlier this year, Michaud was also recognized as a Vermont Presidential Scholar in the Career Technical Education category. Twinfield-Cabot senior Kendall Fowler was an Honorable Mention after a challenging season for the Lady Trojans that saw four of their five starters go down with season-ending injuries. Teammate Jorja Washburn was also honored as a selection, having led Twinfield-Cabot in scoring before going down with one of those injuries.
