HORNET DEFENSE STIFLES COMETS
By Ben Kaufmann
ENOSBURG – Recently removed from its only two losses of the season, Enosburg looked to be back in strong form on Wednesday with a commanding, 35-20 win over reigning Division I champion BFA-St. Albans.
The Hornet (13-2) defense never allowed double-digit points in a quarter and only surrendered more than five in a frame in the fourth. Allison Bowen led the Hornets with nine points and nine rebounds and Kayla Gervais (four steals) and Alexis Kittell each scored eight points. Five other Hornets contributed to the scoresheet and Lilly Robtoy grabbed five steals while Emily Adams pulled down five rebounds.
“We’ve been playing not up to our full potential and tonight was damn-near close to it in all aspects,” said Enosburg coach Gary Geddes.
“That was back to the way we were playing at the beginning of the year. Everybody is gelling and we just put the defensive pressure on them. We got a lot of hands on passes and turned them into turnovers.”
Though the game had a blowout feeling for much of Wednesday evening, Enosburg never led by 20 or more. BFA (3-12) opened the fourth quarter with seven straight points to get within a dozen with 3:45 still to play.
“It was just tough, we had a lot of good looks,” said Comet coach Paul Lafountain. “Credit to their defense, they pressed us and I think it sped us up and I think we rushed a few of our shots. But we did have a ton of good looks, in a 15-point game if you make two more threes and a couple of foul shots, we’re having a different conversation.”
Enosburg got off to a dream start with an opening three followed by a steal and layup from Gervais, then a nice pump-fake from Kittell to take a 7-0 lead less than two minutes in. In response to four straight Comet points, the Hornets closed the first with eight unanswered points from four different players to take a 15-4 lead into the second.
Ruby Dasaro went coast-to-coast to get BFA started in the second and did well defensively, helping force three five-second calls on Enosburg in the first half. Ryleigh Simmons answered with a basket but Lauren-Kate Garceau followed that with a three to cut BFA’s deficit to 17-9. A long jumper from Robtoy, two free throws from Bowen and a three from Gervais closed the first half and gave the Hornets a 24-9 lead at the break.
Geddes said the help from all over defined one of his team’s best performances of the season.
“Kayla got us going with a couple of threes, Allie Bowen had a real strong game for us scoring and rebounding. I thought Kayla Gervais had her best game of the season for us on the defensive side and offensively. Pippa (Kittell), this is a little special for her but she’s played like this all year for us.”
“The girls off the bench, everybody I brought off the bench played well tonight,” he added. “I couldn’t be happier with that effort.”
Enosburg’s offense stalled a bit in the third, mustering just six points. But the quarter went even worse for BFA, which went scoreless for the first 6:30 of the frame and scored just two points to enter the fourth down 30-11. The Comets’ inability to capitalize on decent defense was a source of frustration for Lafountain.
“I just think offensively we couldn’t put the ball in the hoop. We held them to 35 points, what more do you want? If you hold a team that’s 12-2 to 35 points, you should feel pretty good about your chances to win. But we did not carry over the hot shooting from the South Burlington game, I think we only had one or two threes and probably took 20.”
Four points in the first two minutes of the fourth from Dasaro followed by another Garceau three cut the BFA deficit to just 30-18 with 3:45 remaining. Lafountain said he was reminded of a tough loss for the BFA boys just a few days ago when the Bobwhites lost a late 10-point lead at CVU, but Enosburg got things under control before the Comets could mount more of a comeback.
“Anything can happen in that situation, we just couldn’t string together a couple of makes,” Lafountain said.
“We kind of let them have a little run there in the fourth and I had to take a timeout and get after them a little bit but they responded,” said Geddes.
Garceau led the Comets with eight points and Dasaro finished with six. Kalli Tabor, Ella Reynolds and Alyssa Boudreau each scored two. BFA won’t have long to dwell on Wednesday’s loss, Mt. Mansfield comes to St. Albans on Thursday for a 7:30 tipoff.
Adams, Erica Goodhue, Robtoy, Simmons and Paige Johnson each scored two points for Enosburg, which returns to action Friday at Vergennes.
