Thetford
The coveted court has become a second home to the Thetford Academy girls basketball squad in recent years. The powerhouse Panthers punched yet another ticket to the storied venue by defeating Oxbow, 48-37, on Saturday in a VPA Division III quarterfinal game at Vaughan Gymnasium.
Following standout performances by Dahlia Klarich (16 points) and Regan Covey (15 points) against the Olympians, TA will make its sixth trip to the semifinals in as many years. The Panthers won the championship in 2014 and claimed runner-up honors the last two seasons.
Klarich sank nine free throws in the decisive fourth quarter for the second-seeded Panthers (17-5), giving them a three-game season sweep over the No. 10 Olympians (9-13).
“She’s the girl we do want on the line,” Thetford coach Eric Ward said of Klarich, one of seven seniors on the squad. “I feel very good when she’s on the line.”
Overall, the hosts were 15-for-29 from the foul line, while the Olympians were 11-for-21.
Klarich, who played for at Oxbow for two years, a stint that included a trip to Barre during her freshman campaign, had just one bucket in the first half — a 3-pointer at the 1:30 mark that capped a 13-2 Thetford run.
Oxbow responded with a jumper from Shirley Hayward and a three-point play by Kaysea Neil, sandwiched around a loose ball Thetford’s Jordan Mousley collected and converted for a layup.
Covey did most of her damage on dribble drives, including a 360-degree spin move that turned heads inside a packed house.
The senior was fouled before successfully completing the three-point play.
Covey’s athletic finish came soon after an equally impressive gem by the Olympians: Sara Walker fed Kayleigh Trojanowski on a fastbreak, with the latter scoring on a tricky arm bender from directly underneath the Panther hoop.
Thetford got valuable bench play early on from Mousley and Danielle Robinson, who both chipped in six first-half points toward the home team’s 28-14 advantage.
The Olympians, however, refused to give their Capital League rivals an easy pass back to the Aud.
The visitors played an aggressive third quarter, which ended with Bailee Wheeler trimming her team’s deficit to nine points with a backcourt steal and layup in the waning seconds.
The fourth quarter saw Thetford’s lead depleted to 37-31 on a Trojanowski 3-pointer with 4:24 remaining, but Klarich scored five straight points to push the Thetford lead back to double digits.
Olympians coach Barry Emerson expressed pride in his team’s last-ditch effort.
“When you’re down 14 at half, it takes some composure, it takes some mental toughness, to come out and get back into the game,” Emerson said. “A lot of teams would have given up in the locker room.”
Oxbow was led in scoring by Neil (nine points), Alex Giesing (seven) and Wheeler (six).
Senior starters Walker and Giesing and sophomore Mariah Shumway all fouled out.
“That’s a hard way to go as a senior,” Emerson said. “But you’ve got to leave it all on the floor. You can’t sit there and save (the fouls) for another day.”
The Panthers will face Leland and Gray at 8:15 p.m. on Thursday in Barre, and Windsor will play Winooski in the earlier semifinal matchup at 6:30.
Ward spoke to the expectations that have come to surround his program.
“The way our program’s been, the girls, the school and the community think we should be going back (to Barre),” Ward said. “This is going to be our sixth year in a row, and I think sometimes it puts a little pressure on the kids.”
Nevertheless, the Panthers, who held a practice at the Aud during February break in order to further their familiarity, hope to draw on the lessons they’ve learned in past trips to D-III’s final four.
“Your team is absolutely everything,” Covey said. “It doesn’t matter if you don’t start, it doesn’t matter if you don’t play; the team is all it is. As long as you have everybody there and they’re all in it and they’re all ready, and they’re cheering you on and they’re together, you can do anything.”
Added Ward on his team’s upcoming opportunity on the big stage: “That night when you walk on the floor and see that crowd, you’ve got to step back and take it in. But I think we’ve been there enough. Hopefully it will be to our advantage.”
Notes: Nine members of the Thetford Academy chorus sang the national anthem before a standing room-only crowd. … Droves of fans lined up at the hal-fcourt scorers table immediately following Saturdays game in order to buy tickets for Thursday’s matchup. … Thetford, Oxbow and Randolph are the Capital League’s Division III representatives. The Division II league members are Harwood, Lamoille, Lyndon Institute, Montpelier and U-32.