Panthers Snap Vikings’ 13-Game Win Streak

Thetford — The depth of the Thetford Academy girls basketball team finally wore down visiting Lyndon in the fourth quarter on Friday night when the Panthers closed with a flourish to beat the Vikings, 43-34.

Lyndon came in with a 13-1 record and 13 straight wins to sit at the top of the Vermont Division II standings. Thetford improved to 11-4 and stayed within range of a top-two seed in the upcoming D-III postseason tournament. The Panthers took control in the fourth quarter, outscoring the visitors, 17-9, featuring a 9-for-13 performance from the free-throw line.

“We played very good team basketball. The girls are starting to play D very well. We looked very good tonight, and we have a few more games to keep working to be the team we really want to be,” Thetford coach Eric Ward said.

Regan Covey led the Panthers with 13 points. Emily Emerson and Danielle Robinson each had seven points. Covey and Dahlia Klarich (five points) each fouled out in the fourth quarter, but the deep Panthers didn’t miss a beat. Taylor Hollis and Brooke Horniak each made a pair of free throws in the final minute to preserve the Thetford lead.

“What’s nice is we’re so interchangeable,” Ward added. “We’ve had 11 different starters this year and can just play the matchups we think will work best each game. I’m very proud of the girls. It was a fun atmosphere. We executed down the stretch and made our free throws.”

Thetford visits Oxbow on Monday.

Woodstock 40, Twin Valley 28

Wilmington, Vt. — The Wasps played a dominant fourth quarter, outscoring the Wildcats, 15-2, to improve their record to 6-7.

“The big thing is we were able to get stops. A lot of it was our defensive intensity picked up. Credit to Natalie Stevens for buckling down on (Twin Valley star Tayler) Courchesne,” Woodstock coach Timmy MacDonnell said.

Courchesne had 18 points for the Wildcats, but zero in the fourth quarter. Woodstock’s Madison Schultz was 8-for-8 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter and 12-for-13 in the game to finish with 16 points. Mariah Luce had 10 points.

The Wasps visit Green Mountain on Wednesday.

Lebanon 54Manchester West 16

Lebanon — Anna Wolke scored her game-high 17 points in about 7½ minutes as the Raiders (13-0, 15-1) gave their regulars a second-half rest in advance of this afternoon’s makeup date with Goffstown.

Lebanon owned a 40-9 lead by halftime, spurred by Wolke’s offense. Rebecca Wright finished with 11 points, JoJo Wainwright had seven and Leah Mayes netted six as the Raiders rolled.

Goffstown, the defending NHIAA Division II state champs, visit at 2 p.m. today.

Stevens 45, ConVal 30

Claremont — Alexis Aiken and Syd Miller each had 10-point nights and played a role in the Cardinals’ middle-periods assault of the Cougars that set up Stevens’ victory.

Miller got the Cards (6-9) off to a good start with six points in the hosts’ 11-2 opening quarter. Aiken had eight of her points in the third period; Stevens outscored ConVal, 30-11, in the second and third stanzas to pull away.

Jenna Pond finished with seven points for the Cards, who also had six-point efforts from Alexis Ford and Tess Whitney. Stevens visits Fall Mountain today in a makeup contest.

Woodsville 38Canaan-Pittsburg 19

Woodsville — The Engineers used a dominant defensive showing to pick up the win, improving to 10-7 on the season.

Lily Kinder led Woodsville with 11 points. Molly Clough and McKenzie Dennis each had seven points. All three Woodsville seniors scored on senior night. Brianna Robbins had six points, while Courtney Derrington and Becca Kyer each had two points.

The Engineers close their regular season at Lin-Wood on Tuesday night.

Windsor 59, Green Mountain 27

Chester, Vt. — The Yellowjackets (11-2) shook off a slow start before routing the Chieftains with a huge second- and third-quarter charge.

Olivia Rockwood netted a game-high 21 points for Windsor, while fellow freshman Angelina Bigwood contributed 10 in one of her best efforts of the season. Anika Abrahamsen also had a strong game with nine points for the Jacks.

“If we played well, I thought we’d be OK,” Windsor coach Bruce Mackay said. “We were lethargic in the first period, but in the middle two we outscored them, 45-9. We did what we needed to do.”

Windsor goes to Otter Valley for a tough interdivisional Marble Valley League game on Monday.

Gilford 48, Mascoma 32

West Canaan — Although the Royals (4-12) couldn’t get past the Golden Eagles, Mascoma coach John Billings likes what he’s seen from his team to date.

“I think from last year to this year, we are a lot better,” Billings said. “I’m not going to measure improvement for one game, but we’ve improved over the course of the season. From where we were to where we are now is a huge improvement.”

Justine Martin had a game-high 12 points — all on 3-pointers — to lead the Royals, backed by Katie Ferland’s nine points. Mascoma has back-to-back home games on the docket, with Newport visiting Monday and Hillsboro-Deering stopping by on Tuesday.

Rutland 36, Hartford 17

Rutland — The Hurricanes went cold offensively in falling to the Raiders.

“We just need to be more committed to shots. We had some good looks but were very tentative with our shots. I thought we played pretty well defensively,” Hartford coach Troy Guerin said.

Kyra Wood had six points for the Canes (6-7), who play host to Mill River on Tuesday.

Cabot 40Mid Vermont Christian 23

Cabot, Vt. — The Eagles led, 10-5, after the first quarter but couldn’t maintain that pace in a road loss to the Huskies.

MVCS actually led, 10-2, in the closing seconds of the opening frame before Cabot drained a 3-pointer at the buzzer. The Huskies switched to a 2-3 zone for the duration and were able to stifle the Eagles’ offense.

Danyelle Goodwin led MVCS with eight points. Rachel Seale and Emily Jasmin each had six points. The Eagles (6-5) host Long Trail on Tuesday.

Randolph 47, Oxbow 44

Randolph — Jenna Sprague’s 9-for-9 night at the line helped the Galloping Ghosts hold off the Olympians (6-9).

Oxbow spent the night playing catch-up from a 16-8 first-quarter deficit and nearly grabbed the win. The visitors had a chance to force overtime after rebounding a missed Randoph free throw with 2½ seconds left, but a half-court heave missed the mark.

Sprague went 6-for-6 from the line in the fourth quarter, highlighting a 16-for-25 night at the stripe for the hosts. Alex Giesing had 13 points and Maddie Fornwalt finished with nine for the O’s, who host Thetford on Monday night.

Boys Basketball

Lebanon 52, Manchester West 46

Manchester — K.J. Matte returned to the lineup and made his presence felt immediately with a go-ahead 3-pointer in the final minutes to help lead the Raiders over the Blue Knights.

Matte, playing for the first time this season after recovering from a broken foot, finished with 12 points. Ryan Milliken led the Raiders with 14 points. Chris Nulty also had 12 points.

Trailing 46-44 with less than four minutes to play, Matte drained a trey to give the Raiders a 47-46 lead. The Lebanon defense would not allow the hosts to score again. Graham Chickering added a pair of clutch free throws in the final minutes.

“I was really pleased. It was a real group effort. We played a lot of guys a lot of minutes and everyone contributed,” Lebanon coach Kieth Matte said.

The Raiders (12-1 overall, 9-1 NHIAA) host Hanover today in a makeup game.

Sharon 53, Rochester 21

Sharon — Harvey Kelley put a defensive blanket on Troy Walker, the Rockets’ sophomore 1,000-point scorer, keying a solid two-way game for the Phoenix (10-6).

Kelley kept Walker to four points through three quarters and 11 for the evening to slow down the visitors. Kelley also scored a dozen points for Sharon, second only to Sam Knoerlein’s 17. Fisher Kelley had nine points and Cordell Benjamin added eight for the Phoenix.

“I’m really pleased with how we played,” Sharon coach Blake Fabrikant said. “The energy and the effort were excellent. I don’t see the silver lining from time to time, but this was an excellent job.”

Rivendell plays Sharon a visit in a key Central Vermont League showdown on Tuesday.

Hanover 65, Plymouth 45

Hanover — Charlie Adams and Benny Gantrish both contributed eight points to a 23-point second quarter for the Marauders (5-6, 6-8).

The big second stanza boosted Hanover to a 36-19 lead, and the Marauders cruised from there. Adams finished with a team-high 16 points to go with 15 from Martin Paulsen and 13 from Gantrish.

Hanover turns right around to visit Lebanon at 3:30 p.m. this afternoon at Lang Metcalf Gym to make up a Tuesday postponement.

Woodsville 54 Canaan-Pittsburg 36

Woodsville — The Engineers led 29-10 at halftime and cruised over the Panthers.

Sam Pushee (16 points) and Garrett Olsen (14 points) led Woodsville. Adam Johnson added a career-high nine points. Coach Jamie Walker praised the overall team defensive effort in sparking the hosts to the big halftime lead.

Woodsville (15-2 overall, 14-1 NHIAA) visits Lin-Wood on Tuesday.

Mount Royal 55, Nute 43

Sunapee — The Knights shot 12-for-16 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter to keep Rams’ comeback attempt at bay.

Gus LaRose had 16 points for Mount Royal. Andrew Normandin had 11, including eight from the charity stripe. Alex Normandin added nine points. Kealan Vazquez and Matthew McMenaman each had seven points.

“We got back to our game plan in the fourth quarter. We started getting it inside and drew more fouls. It was good to close it out,” Knights coach Matt McMenaman said.

Mount Royal (6-9) visits Hinsdale on Tuesday.

Stevens 51, ConVal 42

Peterborough, n.h. — The Cardinals built an 18-4 lead in the first quarter and held the line from there to beat the Cougars.

Parker Smith had 21 points to pace the Stevens attack. Noah Spaulding added 12 points. Zach O’Brien added seven points and 11 rebounds. Nick O’Brien had six points and 15 rebounds.

The Cardinals (11-2, 14-2) visit Fall Mountain for a makeup game today.

Craftsbury 55, South Royalton 46

Craftsbury Common, Vt. — The Royals (13-5) were doomed by a slow third quarter and fell to the Chargers in a matchup of top tier teams in Vermont D-IV.

“They’re a good team. We’ve got to do the little things better. We’re typically around 70 percent from the free-throw line but have been near 50 percent lately. Everyone is focused; we’ll get there,” Royals coach Pete Howe said.

Nicholas Howe had 22 points to lead SoRo. Dalton McDougall added eight. The Royals host Rochester on Thursday.

Gilford 63, Mascoma 42

Gilford, n.h. — The Golden Eagles ran past the Royals (7-6, 7-9), who had won two straight and six of seven entering the night.

Trailing 13-10 after one, Gilford outscored Mascoma by between six and 10 points in each of the final three periods. Alex Schwarz scored 14 points to lead the Royals, with Devin Duhaime adding nine and Dakota Decocq finishing with eight.

The Royals meet Newport on Monday in a makeup contest.

Cabot 42, MVCS 26

Cabot, Vt. — The Huskies forced Mid Vermont Christian into a slow start and used the cushion built in the first half to stop the Eagles (2-12).

“I give a lot of credit to Cabot,” MVCS coach Mike O’Leary said. “They hustled a lot and beat us on the boards. Neither team shot well, but they got ahead with those rebounds.”

Josh King scored a game-high 15 points for the Eagles, with Jake Roberts following with seven. Mid Vermont meets Websterville tonight at Spaulding High School in Barre.

Twinfield 97, Whitcomb 35

Bethel — Vermont Division IV-leading Twinfield (16-1) took no prisoners in a visit to the young Hornets (1-15). Whitcomb is off until hosting Craftsbury on Thursday.

Unified Basketball

Fall Mountain 43, Hanover 28

Hanover — The Marauders dropped to 0-5 at the hands of the visiting Wildcats.

Olivia Guziewicz led Hanover with 10 points. Avery Hunnewell added eight points. The Marauders visit Keene on Thursday.

Boys Hockey

KUA 6, New Hampton 2

New Hampton, n.h. — Chris Konin surprised the New Hampton defense with a shot nearly three-fourth of the length of the rink for Kimball Union’s opening goal in its latest victory.

The Wildcats killed off an early power play before Konin scored from his own blue line. Thomas Samuelson doubled the KUA lead before the first intermission, and Roope Hirvonen kept the visitors’ two-goal lead intact after the home team scored in the second period.

Kimball Union put the contest away with goals in the third from Kyle Penney, Bryce Dolan and Paul McAuliffe. Hugo Turcotte earned the win in goal and added an assist on McAuliffe’s clincher for KUA (26-3-2), which closes its regular-season schedule with home games against Holderness today, Proctor on Wednesday and Cushing a week from today.

Alpine Skiing

Sunapee Girls Win at Cannon

Franconia, n.h. — Despite struggles making gates in the afternoon race, the Sunapee girls won a two-slalom meet over eight foes at Cannon Mountain.

The Lakers soared in the morning two-run slalom, with Maddie Austin finishing second in 1 minutes, 20.51 seconds and teammate Jacqueline Balch taking fourth in 1:24.43. Ellie Frederick (ninth) and Bethie Coverdale (17th) completed the scoring for Sunapee. The afternoon wasn’t as easy as several Sunapee skiers had to hike to make gates, but Balch was fourth and Frederick eighth to secure the overall girls team win.

The Sunapee boys took third on the day. Will Austin won the morning slalom in 1:10.63, with Riley Balch eighth (1:23.93), Alex Whitehouse 15th and Virgile Bissonette-Blaise 23rd. Whitehorse and Austin were 16-17 in the afternoon race as the Lakers slipped in the standings.

Boys team scores: Derryfield 368, Profile 366, Sunapee 359, Plymouth 347, Littleton 335, Woodsville 284, Hopkinton 243, Newport 229, John Stark 173.

Girls team scores: Sunapee 372, Profile 368, Hopkinton 355, Plymouth 350, Littleton 316, Woodsville 303, Derryfield 262, Lisbon 96.