MCGINN LEADS COMETS PAST WOLVES; WILL FACE RICE IN CHAMPIONSHIP ON SATURDAY
By ANTHONY LABOR
County Courier
ST. ALBANS – It was a total team effort for the BFA-St. Albans girls basketball team when it took on South Burlington during Tuesday’s Division I semifinal game. Looking up and down the whole roster, you would be able to find a big moment, or many, from every player for the Comets.
After a tight first quarter, the fourth-seeded Comets cruised the rest of the game behind 27 points and 10 rebounds from Maren McGinn on their way to a 59-38 win over the No. 8 Wolves. The victory pushes the Comets on to Saturday’s Division I championship game in pursuit of a first title since 1993.
““We have been working for this for so long,” said McGinn. “I’m feeling really good going into Saturday and it’s just really exciting.”
McGinn was not only dominant throughout the entire game with her 27 points, but she was incredibly efficient. She finished the game shooting 11-of-12 from her shots from 2-point range and 1-of-2 from on threes.
“We have been focusing on getting the ball up the floor, which was something we struggled with the last couple of years,” said BFA coach Paul LaFountain. “We want to get Maren the easiest shots we can and if she is running down the floor, she is going to take defenders with her and we have skip passes and then can run the offense from there. But we want to check that first and secondary break to see if you have something and we scored a ton of points like that tonight.”
Caitlyn Dasaro finished the game with 10 points and seven rebounds, while Pippa Kittell and MacKenzie Moore each had nine.
Lauren-Kate Garceau added three points for the Comets and Ruby Dasaro added one. Loghan Hughes played well defensively throughout the game for BFA coming away with a few clutch steals.
“Every girl has bought into what we are trying to do,” said LaFountain. “All the girls are team-first players all year, and it’s been great seeing the growth and maturity over the past couple of years and even from the beginning of the year to now.”
“With the scouting report, people think MacKenzie Moore is just a shooter, but she showed tonight she is more than a shooter driving to the basket and going to the foul line eight times,” he added. “Caitlyn has been a willing passer all year long and trusting her teammates to make the next play and that’s easier said than done when you have so much confidence in yourself, which she does.”
The first quarter was a battle with the Wolves shooting well, as they jumped out to a 15-9 lead in the first five minutes. South Burlington shot 46 percent from the floor in the first frame.
The Comets buckled down the rest of the way defensively, not allowing South Burlington another point in the quarter. Caitlyn Dasaro scored six points while Kittell added a basket to give BFA a 17-15 lead going into the second.
“(South Burlington) shot well to start the game, but our girls had enough wherewithal to stick to the game plan,” said LaFountain. “It was huge for South Burlington to play as well as they did in that first quarter and for us to still have the lead at the end of it. For us to stay focused and disciplined, to do the little things and get the shots under the basket, that’s a huge growth and difference from last year.”
The Comets pulled away in the second quarter, outscoring the Wolves 14-5 to come away with a 31-20 lead going into halftime. McGinn scored 11 of the team’s second-quarter points. Garceau hit a three with just over a minute to go in the quarter to give BFA a 29-20 lead and all the momentum.
Kittell capped off the first half with a hustle play that had the BFA bench energized going into halftime. The ball was deflected out of her hands and started rolling out of bounds before she made a diving save and a midair pass into McGinn under the basket. McGinn put in the layup for the 11-point lead at halftime.
“We were already on the verge of starting to pull away, but to end the way we did with L-K hitting the three and Pippa dives and fires it in to Maren was a huge play to end the half,” said LaFountain. “The girls played so hard out there, and seeing all five on the floor work that hard together is great basketball.”
The Comets made sure there wasn’t going to be any thoughts of a comeback and didn’t allow South Burlington to get within single digits the rest of the game. For good measure, Kittell ended the third similar to the way she ended the second. She grabbed a ball out of midair that was deflected at midcourt and drove hard to the basket for a layup as time expired to give the Comets a 47-30 lead going into the fourth. BFA rotated in all their players and continued to play stingy defense through the final whistle.
The win sends the Comets (8-3) on to Saturday’s championship game where they will face off against No. 11 Rice at Barre Auditorium. The Green Knights came away with a 57-34 win over No. 7 Burlington on Tuesday. The matchup against Rice will be a rematch of the season opener on Feb. 12 which the Comets won 52-33.
This will be the first year since 1998 that the Div. I title game will be held at Barre Auditorium, which was where the Comets last won the title in 1993. BFA is 2-6 in championship games all-time and will be looking to end an 0-4 streak in title games since winning its only crowns in back-to-back campaigns in 1992 and 1993.
“I’m just so ecstatic for this team,” said LaFountain. “Everything we put in place is starting to come to fruition and now we are onto the state title and if we play the team basketball that we did tonight, we are going to be very difficult to beat.”
