Thetford
Wasting little time, the second-ranked Panthers bolted to an 18-7 lead through one quarter en route to a 41-18 elimination of No. 15 Montpelier in a Vermont Division III tournament opener at Vaughan Gym. Eleven of TA’s 14 players in uniform scored, in the process securing a Saturday quarterfinal at home with neighboring Oxbow. The 10th-seeded Olympians knocked out No. 7 Rivendell on Wednesday.
Having beaten the Solons (3-18) handily twice during the winter, Thetford simply needed to concentrate on its game plan to win. TA coach Eric Ward said that’s exactly what his squad did.
“We played a lot of different combinations,” Ward said. “We didn’t play our best game; we just did what we needed to do.”
Dahlia Klarich netted seven of TA’s 14 free throws on her way to a game-high nine points. Regan Covey followed with eight, and Jordan Mousley contributed a season-high six for the Panthers (16-5).
As with Montpelier, Thetford will face a twice-beaten foe in Oxbow on Saturday. The Panthers posted a 65-42 home win on Jan. 20 behind 19 points from Emily Emerson, repeating the feat on Feb. 27 at Mona Garone Gym, 64-40. Covey scored 16 to lead TA in that contest.
“They know us; we know them,” Ward said. “Whichever team executes the best will come out on top. We match up well with Oxbow, but we can’t play like today on Saturday.”
Game time on Saturday is 2 p.m. at Vaughan.
Chelsea 48, S. Royalton 31
Chelsea, Vt.
“I would say it was very successful,” Davis said. “We kind of got to know each other. I’ve established myself in the program now. We have a lot of work to do this summer, but I’m excited to get to work with them.”
Inopportune turnovers ultimately did in the Royals (7-13). Chelsea used to miscues to build a 26-15 halftime lead and never trailed from there. Iris Hudson matched her season best of 10 points to top the SoRo scoresheet, and Grace Pease, the team’s top scorer this season, had eight.
South Royalton loses Hannah Kilburn, Anna Meeks, Kat Brown and Emma Hudson to graduation and exchange student Hulda Havstam to a return to her native Norway.
Pelham 57, Hanover 46
Pelham, n.h.
“We just kind of lost our way in the third quarter,” Hanover coach Tim Winslow said. “We had some breakdowns on defense and struggled to make some stops. They made us work for every basket.”
Benny Gantrish buried five 3-pointers to a team-high 15 points for Hanover (8-11 league, 9-13 overall). Caleb Putnam added 10 for the Marauders, who lose Avery Monahan, Glenn Enneper and Joe Zhang to graduation.
Boudreaux All-Ivy Again
Hanover
The 6-foot-8 forward from Lake Forest, Ill., led the league in rebounding (9.5 per game) and finished second in scoring (17.5 points per game), as he did last winter. His 15 double-doubles are the most by any Big Green player in at least 50 years and were three times as many as any Ivy Leaguer this season. Boudreaux led Dartmouth in scoring in 21 of its 27 games and was its top rebounding in 25 contests.
Princeton claimed the player of the year in Spencer Weisz, defender of the year in Myles Stephens and coach of the year in Mitch Henderson. Harvard’s Bryce Aiken won rookie of the year honors.
Correction
Hanover boys basketball player Caleb Putnam scored 10 points in the Marauders’ loss to Pelham on Wednesday. Putnam was misidentified in an earlier version of a photograph with this article.