BARRE, Vt. — The underdog run of No. 7 seed Rivendell Academy came to an end on Tuesday night.
The Raptors could not complete a fourth-quarter comeback, falling 34-31 to the No. 3 seed West Rutland on Monday night during a VPA Division IV girls’ basketball semifinal contest at Barre Auditorium.
The Raptors trailed by as much as 10 points in the fourth quarter but pulled within one late. In the final seconds, the Raptors were unable to foul a West Rutland player until there were 1.5 seconds left.
Golden Horde senior Hayley Raiche drained both free throws to put her squad up 34-31, and Rivendell was unable to get a game-tying shot off before time expired.
Raptors’ Head Coach Kraig Harlow was proud of his young squad, which included three eighth graders, four sophomores, and two juniors — all of whom played minutes in the contest.
“When you’re this young, and you can be almost like a Cinderella story, especially in high school basketball, it’s important,” he said.
One of those young student-athletes shined in the loss. Eighth grader Grace Bourn led her squad with 18 points and was the lone Raptor to score in double figures.
“She had an incredible game,” Harlow said. “What makes her really good is that she’s a team player, and she gets everyone involved.”
The Golden Horde never trailed during the contest and had a balanced offensive attack with sophomore Emma Haley, freshman Brielle Dunchus and freshman Teigan Williams each scoring seven points.
West Rutland used that balanced attack to trot out to a 20-11 lead at halftime as the Raptors struggled to score consistently.
The Golden Horde looked poised to cruise to a victory, leading 30-20 with about six minutes remaining in regulation.
However, that is when the young Raptors started to push back.
“We’ve played 22 games up to here so, you know, being down 10 isn’t something new to us — we fought back,” said Harlow. “They hunkered in on the defensive end, they communicated more, and they started moving, and we started to make that run.”
The Raptors proceeded to go on a 9-0 run, highlighted by scoring from sophomore Lexi Gray, junior Payton Gray, and Bourn, along with some timely defensive stops to get within one at 30-29.
Williams would hit a jumper to put West Rutland back up three, and then neither team could get on the board for over two minutes.
Raptors junior Lily Murray stopped the scoring drought with a layup with 18 seconds remaining to make the game 32-31 in West Rutland’s favor. However, the Raptors were unable to foul in time to give themselves a shot before the game’s end.
While Harlow acknowledged that a run like this with a young team is valuable for future championship aspirations, the real value was in the camaraderie the team developed over months together.
“What’s really valuable is nine girls who found each other as a team, came together, they celebrate one another — win or lose, we’re always like a family,” Harlow said.
“We really battled, and we really fought,” he later added. “I really loved our effort.”