QUECHEE — Chris Goodwin isn’t worrying about this season for his Mid Vermont Christian School girls basketball team.
MVCS is among the youngest teams in Vermont, with four eighth graders and two freshmen on its nine-player roster. Even the Eagles’ three returnees — a senior and two sophomores — have never been needed to fill key roles before this season. That’s largely because Goodwin’s daughter, Hayley, commanded so much attention last year as she scored 63% of the team’s points.
Hayley Goodwin is gone now, as is Rachel Horner-Richardson, far and away MVCS’ second-leading scorer in 2021-22. With those two out of the picture, it almost begs the question: Where is the offense going to come from?
“We’re looking two years down the road,” The Eagles’ seventh-year coach said. “We’re looking for improvement every week. If we can make decisions a half-second sooner in everything we do — passing, catching, shooting — that’ll make a huge difference.”
In Thursday’s season opener against a Poultney team that the Eagles beat in the first round of last year’s VPA Division IV playoffs, the offense didn’t come from anybody for more than 12 minutes. The Blue Devils held MVCS scoreless until the halfway point of the second quarter and went on to win, 42-14.
“That’s the one drawback about having a really good offensive player who knows they need to put up 30 points a game for the team to win,” Goodwin said. “The other kids aren’t there yet, and now they have to be there. They were able to watch and absorb the last couple years and play a supporting role, but now they all have to step up and contribute in every way.”
The Eagles’ four eighth graders all pull double duty, playing with the junior high team as well. They may be the future of the high school program, but given their busy schedules, Goodwin said he wants to avoid overtaxing them. Only Natalie Bokinala started among the eighth graders Thursday, though Goodwin said Rebekah Roberts will eventually develop into the starting point guard.
Roberts’ older sister, sophomore Alyssa Roberts, is starting at point guard for now and led MVCS with six points, including the basket that finally put the Eagles on the board. Sarah Bascom, the lone senior, had just one point on a fourth-quarter free throw, but she pulled down 12 rebounds and assisted on three of the team’s four made field goals.
“We’ve had to ditch some of our old plays and create new ones to adjust to our new team dynamic and figure out where we’re going to score from,” Bascom said. “People are going to have to step up and adjust to new positions and learn to score without having one key player.”
The Eagles have been regular D-IV contenders in recent years — they were 18-2 in the 2018 regular season before suffering an upset quarterfinal loss as the No. 1 seed. Two years later, they advanced to the program’s first-ever title game only to see the final canceled after the COVID-19 pandemic began.
MVCS fell in the semifinals in 2021 and was eliminated in the quarterfinals last season, but this year may be more of a rebuilding effort. Bascom, who likely will not see the fruits of that rebuild before leaving the program, said her role is as much about mentoring the young roster as it is improving her own game.
“Some of the younger girls, they’ve never played before,” Bascom said. “So we’re teaching them everything in a short period of time. It’s encouraging because once these players who are still here get really good, we’re going to have a really good team in a few years if everyone continues to play and progress.”
Benjamin Rosenberg can be reached at brosenberg@vnews.com or 603-727-3302.