SECOND HALF SURGE PROPELS HORNETS PAST COSMOS
By ANTHONY LABOR
County Courier
ENOSBURG – For the first half of Tuesday’s playdown round between the Enosburg and Springfield girls basketball team, it looked like it might be a close offensive shootout. The third-seeded Hornets shut that thought down real quick in the third quarter.
After only holding a six-point lead at half over the No. 14 Cosmos, Enosburg outscored the visitors 22-4 in the third quarter on its way to a 58-27 win.
“Offensively I was happy with what we did in the first half, but I wasn’t happy giving up 22 points,” said Enosburg coach Gary Geddes. “I challenged the team at halftime and they accepted that challenge and did a great job in the second half.”
Enosburg’s suffocating defense helped break the game wide-open forcing Springfield into a number of turnovers in the third quarter that led to easy transition baskets.
The Hornets (6-2) were 8-of-13 shooting from the floor in the third, and had seven steals to extend what was a 28-22 game at halftime into a 24-point lead going into the fourth quarter.
“If we are playing our defense right, we can generate a lot of our offense off our defense,” said Geddes. “When we get on the same page and rotate well, we can disrupt the opposing offense pretty well. And in the last three games, we have been shooting well, so that helps.”
Sophie Burns was unstoppable for the Hornets, as she finished with a game-high 22 points and had six steals without playing at all in the fourth quarter with the team having such a big lead. She tallied 15 of her points in the first half to help the Hornets go in with the lead it did at the half.
Emily Adams chipped in eight of her 13 points in the third quarter to help the Hornets jump out to the big lead in the second half.
“Sophie carried us in the first half,” said Geddes. “She and Emily have been doing that all year, and I thought collectively as a team everyone did a great job on the defensive side.”
Springfield didn’t make things easy in the first half, as Macie Stagner tallied seven points in the first half and Haley Streeter had nine to keep the Cosmos right in step with the Hornets. In the second half, the pair combined for only one point, as Enosburg’s defense took over.
“Springfield was a lot quicker than I expected,” said Geddes. “(Stagner) and (Streeter) were a lot quicker in person than what you see on the film, so that kind of caught me by surprise a little, but we adjusted well in the second half.”
Lillian Robtoy added seven points for Enosburg, while Kayla Gervais had four. Emma Gervais (three points), Meg Severance (three points), Zoe McGee (two points), Ryleigh Simmons (two points) and Allison Bowen (two points) also scored for the Hornets.
The Hornets also shot well from the free-throw line, as they were 18-of-21 on their attempts.
They have now advanced to at least the quarterfinal round of the playoffs for 11 straight years, and will try to build off the way they finished Tuesday’s game when the Hornets host No. 6 Hartford in the Division II quarterfinals on Friday. Hartford came away with a 64-59 win over No. 11 Montpelier on Tuesday.
The last time Enosburg played Hartford in the playoffs was the 2019 playdown round, which the Hornets won 68-35.
“Hartford was young a couple of years ago when we played them, and I saw some film from them and I recognized a couple of the girls, so I’m sure they are going to be a tough matchup,” said Geddes. “With this season, we will be able to find film of about four or five of their games, but it’s tough to judge until you are on the floor with them just like Springfield was tonight.”
