WINDSOR — There are many rivalries in a lot of sports in the Upper Valley, but Thetford-Windsor girls basketball is climbing up the ladder.
The teams have split regular-season games the last four years. Then there are the VPA Division III playoff encounters, beginning with Thetford’s 53-52 win in the 2017 finals. Windsor won a title-game rematch the next year, and it was Thetford over Windsor in the semifinals last winter en route to the Panthers’ third state title in a six-year run of finals visits.
Consequently, it was no surprise when the two teams were tied twice in the fourth quarter on Saturday before Windsor pulled away with a late flurry, 53-50.
“What you have again this year is two evenly matched teams who, in a couple of months, will look entirely different,” said Thetford coach Eric Ward.
The two rivals were tied for the final time at 47-47 with 5:30 to play in the contest. It then became a game of composure, and the two Windsor girls that held it together the best were sophomores Reese Parry and Elliott Rupp. Parry had two drives for hoops and Rupp had a put-back as the Yellowjackets went on a 6-0 run down the stretch.
Windsor trailed by 10 points twice, the last at 30-20 after the opening seconds of the third quarter. That was also the time that Windsor coach Bruce Mackay decided to leave all-stater Olivia Rockwood in for the rest of the game. Rockwood, the recipient of a full ride to the University of Maine, missed school the last two days and was still dealing with the effects of the flu. She played sparingly in the first half and had two points. She had 11 points in the second half, including three hoops from beyond the arc.
Still, what Mackay thought was the most important factor in the win was the way the team held together.
“We didn’t take care of the ball for a long time early, but I thought we were better in the fourth quarter,” the Windsor coach said.
Thetford noticed.
“You know, we graduated our guards last year, so that’s one area we have to work on,” Ward said.
Thetford took a 28-20 lead at halftime on the strength of five 3-point field goals, including two from junior Kelsey Smith. Then it was Windsor making the triples as the Jacks connected three times in the third quarter, including two from Rockwood as Windsor tied the game at 40-40 after three quarters.
“We’ve had some rebounding issues the first two games, and we did again tonight,” Ward said. “We’ve got some things to work on.”
It was the first loss for Thetford after opening the season with wins over Stowe and Rivendell. Windsor’s only other game was a win over Newport.
Junior Emma Colby had 11 points to lead Thetford, which also got nine points from Smith and eight from junior Emi Vaughn. Rockwood’s 13 paced the Jacks, who also got nine points from Parry and seven from Adi Prior.
Windsor goes to Bellows Falls on Monday, while Thetford is off until it hosts Blue Mountain on Saturday.