Oxbow's Bryce Ilsley.
Oxbow's Bryce Ilsley.

Bradford, Vt. — The Oxbow High boys basketball team built a first-half lead with a pressing defense and stretched in the second with trapping half-court defense. Senior Alex Maxwell was in the middle of all of it.

Maxwell captained the Olympians’ defense and contributed 10 points as the Olympians outdistanced Woodstock, 72-63, on Tuesday night at Mona Garone Gym.

Oxbow’s defense allowed Matt Emerson and Bryce Isley to both post 20-point nights to keep the Wasps (1-1) at bay.

“Adam was kind of the signal caller in the back of the defense, and he did a great job rebounding,” Oxbow coach Steve Carson said.

“He just always found himself in the right spot.”

Even with an effective press, Oxbow (2-0) found itself holding only a 39-35 halftime lead, and Woodstock stayed close as the O’s fell into foul trouble. Carson dropped his squad into a half-court approach in the second half, with Oxbow consequently holding the Wasps to 28 points the rest of the way.

Ilsley popped for a game-high 25 points and Emerson added 10 for the O’s, who visit Stowe on Friday.

Harrison Morse paced the Wasps with 19 points, followed by Gabe Marsicovetere’s 11. Woodstock hosts Bellows Falls on Thursday.

Thetford 59, Windsor 49

Thetford — The Panthers (2-1) built an early lead and withstood turnover troubles to get past the Yellowjackets (0-3) at Vaughan Gym in a rematch of last season’s VPA Division III semifinal.

Alex Emerson powered Thetford with a game-high 17 points, and Owen Deffner finished with 13. Ryen Wolf also played a key role in the victory, scoring his first eight points of the season for the Panthers.

“We jumped out to an early lead, then we — between turnovers and just bad possessions — let them hang around for a while,” Thetford coach Jason Gray said. “(Windsor coach Harry Ladue) threw some different presses at us, and we kind of opened it back up in the third (quarter).”

Guard Jake Colby added seven points for TA, which hosts Montpelier on Saturday in its Capital Division opener. Windsor, which got 14 points from Robert Slocum, nine from Ryland Richardson and seven from Owen Abrahamsen, visits Newport on Friday.

Hanover 64, Bow 50

Bow, n.h. — After sinking 13 3-pointers in their season opener, the Marauders (2-0) buried another nine to put away the Falcons.

Charlie Adams had a game-high five trifectas and led Hanover with 22 points. Liam Collins drilled three triples and had 18 points. Eric Seltzer added 11 points, buoyed by a 5-for-5 effort at the charity stripe.

“We’re not a very tall team,” Hanover coach Tim Winslow said. “We need to play an up-tempo style of play, and the kids love it.”

The Marauders host Plymouth tonight, then visit Kingswood for a 6 p.m. game on Friday.

Sunapee 62, Newport 58

Newport — The Lakers (4-0) used a 24-point first quarter to take control, although the Tigers (0-4) didn’t make holding the lead easy.

Zach Belisle finished with 22 points and Jordan Chappell added 20 for Sunapee, which saw an 11-point halftime lead slowly whittle its way down over the second half. Cole McNamara had 17 points, J.T. Blaine added 14 and Joey Ackerman netted 10 for Newport.

The Tigers entertain Windsor on Friday. Sunapee resumes league play on Jan. 4 against Hinsdale.

Winnisquam 49, Mascoma 47

Tilton, n.h. — Kyle Mann hit a driving layup at the buzzer to give the Bears a narrow verdict over the Royals (2-2).

Winnisquam nearly didn’t gain the victory. Down 18-7 after one quarter and 35-20 at the half, Mascoma mounted a furious comeback that nearly resulted in overtime. Dakota Decocq led the charge with 20 points, and Ben Seiler added nine on a trio of 3-pointers.

“They jumped us in the beginning; we were out of sorts,” Mascoma coach Jim Barry said. “We regrouped at halftime, came out and dominated the second half. It was just too big a hole.”

The Royals entertain Berlin on Friday.

Blue Mountain 65, MVCS 40

Quechee — Josh King led the Eagles with 14 points as Mid Vermont dropped to 1-3.

Blue Mountain led, 31-14, at halftime and never looked back, outpacing the hosts, 21-14, in the third quarter. Cade Paquette scored nine points, Dylan Patel netted seven points and Daniel Roberts added five points in the loss. Mid Vermont hosts West Rutland today.

Girls Basketball

Mascoma 60, Winnisquam 24

West Canaan — Madison Peavey jumped off the bench and threw down a game-high 15 points as the Royals (2-3) rolled at home.

“She was the spark that got us rolling there,” Mascoma coach Walter Hammond said. “Everybody else was feeding into it. She’s been solid off the bench all year long. She just takes that role and runs with it.”

The Royals’ defense did its part by holding the Bears to a single point in the opening quarter. Bella Kondi also excelled, Hammond said, netting a dozen point for Mascoma.

Michaela Dowd finished with nine points for the Royals, who visit Berlin on Friday.

Newport 53, Sunapee 47

Sunapee — The Tigers (3-3) withstood Sunapee rallies in each half to nip the neighbors at Sherburne Gym.

Eliza Bates had a game-high 17 points for Newport, Alyssa Burr finished with 16 and the Tigers made the most of full-court pressure to flummox the young Lakers (1-4).

Burr and Coronis accounted for Newport’s 3-pointers; Coronis finished with 11 points.

“Actually, we put pressure on them most of the game; without that, it would have been a different game,” Newport coach Ross Dole said. “They had a lot of turnovers, which turned into more possession for us — and more points.

“(Sunapee) played hard. They were scrappy. They played hard to the end.”

The Tigers head to the Fall Mountain holiday tournament next Wednesday, opening the three-day draw against Hinsdale. The Lakers return to league play on Jan. 2 at Derryfield.

Lebanon 53, Stevens 14

Claremont — The Raiders (4-0) jumped to a 36-7 halftime lead before unloading the bench in the second half.

Lebanon coach Tim Kehoe put 13 different players on the floor, with Rebecca Wright (18 points) serving as the only Raider in double figures. The scoresheet included five-point efforts from Izzy Fabry, Megan Gradijan, Sally Rainey and Izzy Peress along with the first varsity basket for Ella Longacre.

The Cardinals picked up five points from Sydney Miller and four from Jenna Pond. Lebanon heads to Bow on Friday night, the same night Stevens welcomes Oyster River to Carr Gymnasium.

Hanover 64, Bow 42

Hanover — The Marauders (3-1) spread the scoring around all four quarters to control the Falcons.

Freshman Melissa Whitmore had the big night for the Marauders, scoring a career-high 12 points to share top honors with senior teammate Diana Schwarz. Julia Golder finished with 11 points, Maddie McCorkle added 10 and every Marauder save for one contributed at least a bucket.

The Marauders go to Plymouth tonight, then host Kingswood on Friday.

Blue Mountain 55MVCS 50 (ot)

Quechee — The Eagles (4-1) dropped their first contest of the season, finally running out of gas after defending their way back from a seven-point halftime deficit.

Mid Vermont Christian limited the Bucks to just 16 second-half points. Hayley Goodwin forced overtime by sinking three free throws after being fouled on a 3-point attempt with 8 seconds to play. With just five players seeing the bulk of the minutes, however, the Eagles hit a wall in overtime.

“Fifty percent of their points came on second shots, so if we’d shored up our rebounding, we would have had a chance to win,” MVCS coach Chris Goodwin said. “They’re bigger than we are, stronger than we are, older than we are. … I’m definitely encouraged by how hard we played. It’s our best effort of the year.”

Goodwin netted 21 points and Kyla McCoy added 16 for Mid Vermont, which hosts Black River on Friday.

MSJ 60, Sharon 23

Chester, Vt. — The Mounties overwhelmed the young Phoenix (1-2) in the opening game of Green Mountain Union High’s holiday tournament.

Chelsea transfer Makenzi Edwards paced Sharon with eight points. Sophomore Lydia Eastman netted Sharon’s sole 3-pointer and finished with seven points, and Tia Kendall contributed six. TSA returns to Chester to face either the hosts or Twin Valley in Thursday’s 3 p.m. consolation contest.

Girls Hockey

Hanover 9, Bedford 0

West Lebanon — Violet Sperry scored her first varsity goal and goalie Aidan Stone recorded as many assists as saves — one of each — as the Marauders (3-0) rolled at Campion Rink.

Pepper Joseph, Clara Boland and Maggie Lee all had two-goal nights; Boland and Lee contributed two assists each as well. Natalie Morhun and Bryn Kable provided Hanover’s other goals.

Meredith Morhun and Christina Chow also had two-assist games for the Marauders. Joseph, Kable, Sage McGinley-Smith, Emma Tysinger and Sophia Brackett notched one helper apiece.

The Marauders host Bishop Brady-Manchester West-Trinity on Saturday.

Skiing

FIS Honors Geraghty-Moats

Steamboat Springs, Colo. — The International Ski Federation has singled out West Fairlee’s Tara Geraghty-Moats as its female athlete of the week for her performance in the organization’s inaugural Continental Cup women’s Nordic combined events last weekend in Colorado.

Geraghty-Moats, 25, made the most of the sport’s debut, winning Saturday’s first-ever women’s event and repeating the feat in a follow-up competition on Sunday. Geraghty-Moats won both on the strength of her cross country skiing; she was third on Saturday and fourth on Sunday after the ski jumping portion of both meets.

Racing out of Lake Placid’s New Yokr Ski Education Foundation, Geraghty-Moats outpaced her 12 other competitors nearly a minute on the 5K loop course on Saturday. She topped them by more than a minute on Sunday. Her final victory margins, after accounting for jumping results, came out to more than 15 seconds both days.

“It’s a dream come true to race Nordic combined on home soil,” Geraghty-Moats said in an FIS news release. “I’m proud of how I stuck to my plan and had good results both days. I’m proud of my accomplishments this weekend, but I’m just as proud of all the women competitors who skied their hearts out and the people who chose to support them.”

Geraghty-Moats is mixing Continental Cup Nordic combined with action on the World Cup women’s ski jumping circuit this winter. Two more Continental Cup Nordic combined events are on tap today and Thursday in Park City, Utah.