THUNDERBIRDS FALL TO COSMOS IN PLAYDOWNS; COMPLETED FIRST WINNING REGULAR SEASON IN THREE DECADES
By Landon Potvin
SWANTON – For the first time since 1991, the Missisquoi Valley Thunderbirds finished the regular season with a winning record and held a home playoff game. They hosted the Springfield Cosmos on Tuesday night in the first round of the Div. II playoffs, and the matchup did not disappoint. The two teams battled all night, but in the end, the Cosmos came out victorious, 46-42.
“We set out this season with two goals in mind,” said MVU head coach Jen Gagne. “One to have a winning record and, two, host a home playoff game, and we did both. I am super proud of these girls; so many times we were down by 11 at the half, and we would come back. The fight was always there and in the end, we achieved the goals we set out to do.”
“The seniors have worked hard for ten years to get us to this point where we had a home playoff game, and tonight was competitive basketball, and the effort was there.”
The effort showed everywhere for the No. 8 T-Birds (10-9) on Tuesday night. They out-rebounded the No. 9 Cosmos 30-28 and 12-6 on the offensive glass. They had six blocked shots, stole the ball five times, and forced nine turnovers.
After the first quarter, MVU held a 14-6 lead. With the crowd’s backing, it seemed as if the Thunderbirds were going to run away with the game. McKenzie Vincent (seven points) and Abigail Paquette (five points) led the charge offensively in the first. But it was a 21-point second quarter which elevated the Cosmos (10-10) for the rest of the game and gave them a 27-24 lead at the break.
The Thunderbirds had to deal with two dominant offensive players on Springfield: sisters Megan (13 points) and Macie Stagner. Alex Bourdeau held the duties of containing Macie Stagner and held her own, making her earn seven of her 22 points from the free-throw line and just one made three.
“Alex is a fantastic defensive player,” said coach Gagne. “She got beat a couple of times, but for the most part played great defense, but sometimes better offense conquers good defense.”
The Cosmos started to pull away in the third quarter, reaching their largest lead of seven points with two minutes to play. Vincent put up two shots, grabbed two offensive rebounds, and finally made the third attempt and got fouled. Paquette finished the final 46 seconds strong with four points from powerful post moves to cut the deficit to three, 35-32, heading into the last quarter.
The fourth began the same way they ended the third with a basket inside by Vincent. MVU then tied it at 35-35 thanks to Bourdeau splitting at the free-throw line. From there, the game was back and forth. When one team scored the other matched. If one team turned the ball over, so did the other. With under three minutes to play, Macie Stagner (22 points) made an extremely off-balance floater to take a 39-37 lead, but MVU’s drive back down tied it back up with a bank shot by Vincent. Springfield countered with a jump shot from the free-throw line to take a 41-39 lead, and MVU was unable to tight things up again down the stretch, as the Cosmos started to stall and kill the clock.
MVU is graduating six seniors: Arianna Bourdeau, Madison Gagne, Alexandra Brouillette, Danielle Totten, Lillian Kalakay and Paquette.
“I told these girls we have nothing to hang our heads about; we achieved our two goals,” said coach Gagne. “These seniors played game after game losing by 30 points, so to come out here and even play in these competitive games and an opportunity to host a game is just so cool.”
“I really hope they take this and do this later on in life. They come back, and they coach and give back like we have been able to do for them.”
MVU is returning Destinee Pigeon, Kasandra Reynolds, Alex Bourdeau, Molly Mefor, Sierra Reynolds and McKenzie Vincent. With close games all season and a tight playoff game, these girls played big minutes and got valuable experience.
“To come up in their first year on varsity and play competitive games is only going to make them better,” said coach Gagne. “They will definitely be a team to compete with next year. Mack got better and better each game this year; go to the baskets on layups and everything we worked on this year, we improved on. I keep telling them next year is your year. Sierra Reynolds is going to be a great person inside, she is going to step in and take a big step. We have great talent coming up with Alex and some promising freshmen.”
Paquette notched 16 points to go along with eight rebounds and three blocked shots. Her front-court cohort McKenzie Vincent scored 13 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, and blocked two shots.
