WINDSOR — Averaging 73 points a game as a high school hoops team requires a potent offense that can score efficiently and in bunches. The Windsor High School girls basketball team continued its high-octane campaign Friday with a 56-36 home win over Williamstown in the VPA Division III quarterfinals.
The No. 2 Jacks (9-0) got 15 points apiece from Reese Perry and Evelyn Page with Peyton Richardson chipping in eight.
The Yellowjackets will go on to face the winner of Saturday’s quarterfinal matchup between Vergennes and Winooski.
Windsor, rather than the customary Barre Auditorium, will play host to the semifinals on Tuesday. The venue change is a repercussion of the COVID-19 pandemic, though the Aud is still slated to host state championship games.
Windsor jumped out to a 10-0 lead to start the game, thanks in part to a smothering full-court press that kept the No. 10 Blue Devils (5-6) scoreless for the game’s first 3:04.
“We have a bunch of pressures,” said Windsor coach, Kabray Rockwood. “Some zone pressures and some full-court man pressures, and we applied them both just to keep them off-balance and, yeah, I think that was really the difference. We had a lot more opportunities to score.”
Perry opened the second quarter with a putback of her own miss, then a layup compliments of Elliot Rupp’s drive and feed. The play extended the Jacks’ lead to 19-6 and forced a Blue Devils timeout with 5:55 left before halftime.
Perry scored a layup off an inbounds pass out of the timeout before the guests briefly regrouped, mounting a 6-0 run. Page answered with a steal and coast-to-coast layup before teammate Karen Kapuscinski hit a 3-pointer to close out the half.
The hosts never looked back from their 28-13 lead at intermission.
Some of Friday’s post-game chatter was devoted to COVID, which forced teams from both CVU and Peoples Academy to bow out of their respective basketball tournaments on Friday.
“It would be devastating if we can’t play continuing on,” Rockwood said. “You could lose things in a minute and (have it) be completely out of your control, so we’ve been really stressing being smart about what we do and who we’re with, and we just hope and pray that we get that opportunity to finish this off.”
Notes: No fans were in attendance Friday, save a colorful array of cut-out portraits. … Windsor hit five 3-pointers and finished 5-for-9 from the free-throw line, while the Blue Devils hit twice from deep and made 6-of-11 free throw attempts. … The Jacks entered Friday’s game with three players averaging in double figures: Rupp (19.9 ppg.), Perry (12.8) and Ashley Grela (12.5). … Defensively, the Yellowjackets are giving up an average of just 34 points per game.