WOODSTOCK — Harrison Morse scored 31 points and Manny Pacheco knocked down five 3-pointers to guide the Woodstock High boys basketball team to a season-opening 63-50 win on Friday night over visiting Thetford Academy at Dailey Gymnasium.
“Feels awesome to pick up my first win; hoping there’s a few more down the road,” said Woodstock coach Tom Avellino, who won in his debut night on the job. “We talk about if you’re open, you shoot. That’s the way we’re built, and that’s the way we have to play. We’ve got athletes on this team, but they’re bigger than us, stronger than us. But we played our game.”
The Panthers trailed, 44-35, at the beginning of the fourth quarter and cut the deficit to eight points with 6:11 to play. Then Pacheco (19 points) and Morse combined for three 3-pointerss in less than a minute to ultimately put the game out of reach.
Thetford, which graduated six seniors from last season’s state title team, was led by Alex Emerson’s 15 points and Eli Dunnet’s 12. Big man Eamon Deffner contributed nine points.
“For the first game, I’d say it wasn’t too bad,” fourth-year Thetford coach Jason Gray said. “Defensively, we have a little bit of work to do. Offensively, we got a lot of work to do against the zone. Other than that, I thought the kids kept working hard. First game; shots will start to fall as the season goes on.”
Woodstock shot 16-of-25 from the free-throw line. Avellino used a 2-3 zone most of the game and employed a full-court press at times to put pressure on the Panthers. The Wasps opened the game on an 8-2 run and never trailed.
TA travels to Rivendell on Tuesday while the Wasps list Brattleboro on Wednesday.
— Pete Nakos
SWANZEY, N.H. — The Huskies opened the game on a 19-9 run and handed the Royals a loss in their season opener.
Ben Seiler had 22 points to pace the Royals. Gabe Rock added 16 points, and Ben Schwarz chipped in six. Mascoma bounced back with 21 points in the second quarter before Monadnock rallied with 26 points in the third to put the game out of reach.
“They came out (in the first quarter) and were the aggressor right off the bat,” first-year Mascoma coach Silas Ayers said.
The Royals will host Hillsboro-Deering on Tuesday.
SOUTH ROYALTON — With its defense taking charge, White River Valley (1-0) bolted out of the locker room after halftime to take down the visiting Wildcats in both teams’ season opener.
Nerves kept the game close, with Twin Valley owning a 7-5 lead after one quarter and WRV grabbing a 19-15 advantage at the half. Sophie Howe, Sarah Howe and Ella Perreault led the WRV defensive charge after the break, and Sophie Howe buried three 3-pointers en route to a game-high 17 points to propel the offense.
Chelsea Trask and Sophie Howe both had eight points for WRV. Kylie Rece led Twin Valley with nine points.
White River Valley heads to Arlington on Wednesday.
WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — Jasmine Jenkins and Davan Murphy both hit for double figures as the Hurricanes (1-0) used a strong second half to take their first game of the season.
Hartford picked up its defensive play after halftime to build on a 25-19 lead. Jenkins scored 18 points to power the home team, and Murphy followed with 14. Elsie Davis contributed seven.
Hartford entertains Oxbow on Wednesday.
NEWPORT — The Yellowjackets ran away from the Tigers in a Twin State matchup.
Olivia Rockwood had 13 points to lead a balanced effort by Windsor. Adi Prior added eight points. Evelyn Page and Angelina Bigwood each had seven points. Ten different players scored for Windsor. The Jacks built a 42-18 lead at halftime.
Alexis Quimby had eight points for Newport (1-2), which plays host to Fall Mountain on Tuesday.
The Yellowjackets (1-0) are off until a Thetford visit to Windsor on Dec. 21.
WEST CANAAN — The Royals (1-2) were outscored by 11 points in the second half in dropping a tough home matchup with the Huskies.
Mascoma led, 22-21, at halftime but then scored just two points in the third quarter to fall behind. Liberti LaCasse and Michaela Dowd each had 10 points to pace the Royals.
The Royals are back in action on Friday at home against White Mountains.
NEW LONDON — The Raiders won six different events in a seven-team boys and girls meet at Colby-Sawyer College.
Aidan Urnezis and Zethan Moss each won twice. Urnezis claimed the 100-yard breaststroke in 1 minute, 12.95 seconds and won the 200-yard butterfly in 2:10.88. Moss won the 100-yard fly (1:00.45) and the 200-yard individual medley (2:18.53).
Cardigan Loupis added a win in the girls 200-yard individual medley in 3:01.77. The Raiders also won the girls 200-yard relay with the team of Stacie Strombom, Marissa Hebert, Iona Gulledge and Sarah Katz.
MERIDEN — Several Wildcats produced multiple-point nights and goalie Zak Brice backed it up with 21-save work in the crease as Kimball Union (5-2-0) won again.
KUA bounced back after giving up the opening goal, scoring four times in the first period to take control. Paul Dore, Adan Fantilli, Andrew Noel and Zach Whitehead provided the markers, with Whitehead’s coming with a half-second left on the first-stanza clock.
Dore finished with two goals, Fantilli added two assists to his goal and Tomas Mazura contributed three assists for Kimball Union. Donte Pierre and Luca Fantilli also scored, and Sullivan Mack threw in four assists.
Kimball Union visits Tilton on Saturday.
LOWELL, Mass. — The Big Green (5-3) jumped out to a 33-19 halftime lead and held off the River Hawks (3-8).
Asha Taylor sank a 3-pointer two minutes into the contest to counter a game-opening Lowell bucket, and Dartmouth never trailed the rest of the night.
The visitors led by eight points late in the first period and built the advantage to double digits for the first time on a Katie Douglas trifecta with 3:27 left in the first half for a 25-15 edge.
UML mounted a late rally, closing to within five points twice before Paula Lenart and Annie McKenna closed out the win at the line, combining to go 6-for-6 over the final 1:54. Taylor and McKenna led Dartmouth with 12 points apiece, Douglas finished with 11 and Lenart added 10.
The Big Green returns home to host Texas State on Sunday afternoon at Leede Arena.
HANOVER — The Big Green (4-7-2) used a pair of second-period goals to get just enough distance on the Ravens (11-5-0) at Thompson Arena in the first meeting of the two programs.
CC Bowlby and Katerina Daija scored about 4½ minutes apart midway through the second period to break the ice and give Dartmouth a 2-0 lead. It proved just enough to withstand a goal from FPU’s Becca Kniss with 7:14 to play.
Dartmouth outshot the visitors, 31-16, receiving 15-save netminding from Kayla Wormsbecher, who earned her first varsity victory. Gabby Billing recorded her team-best eighth assist, and Sydney Hill also had a helper for the Big Green.
Dartmouth is off until a Jan. 3 home date with Rensselaer.