CVU wins record-breaking 10th state girls’ hoops title
After a hard fall to the floor that drew an audible gasp from the crowd when Merrill Jacobs’ head hit the floor of Patrick Gymnasium with a loud thump, CVU’s senior guard got to her feet and calmly sank the resulting free throws, putting the Redhawks up 38-33.
With 26 seconds left, the outcome appeared determined.
Although St. Johnsbury’s Hayden Wilkins attempted a 3-point jumper that missed, it’s doubtful it would have mattered if it had hit with just 9 seconds remaining. And when CVU’s Grace Thompson grabbed the defensive rebound, it was a done deal.
The only thing that mattered then was containing the impending excitement of repeating as Division 1 girls state champs as the final eight seconds ticked off the clock.
When at long last the horn sounded, the excitement exploded and the celebration began.
The Champlain Valley Union girls team had achieved back-to-back titles by beating the Hilltoppers for the state basketball title for the second year in a row. Last year’s victory had been by a more comfortable 14 points at 43-29, but this year’s victory exemplified the perseverance and resilience coach Ute Otley’s applauded in this year’s team.
Clutching her plaque, Jacobs said she was feeling no pain, but admitted it might catch up with her later. For now, she was subsumed with the joy of achieving the amazing.
“My goal for basketball was to be on this team and to win a championship, so it was really amazing to be able to experience that twice,” Jacobs said. “And I would like for my last game to be a win.”
Mission achieved for the senior.
“We’re a very resilient team,” Jacobs said. “We may not be up right now, but we’ll sneak back up at the end.”
A very good description of this game, in which the Redhawks didn’t have a lead until late in the game. With 1:17 left on the clock in the third quarter, Elise Berger hit a driving layup to give her team a 27-25 lead, which is where the score stood when the fourth quarter began.
And in the final quarter, the contest was thrilling with three lead changes.
St. Johsbury managed to pull even at 29-29 with just under five minutes left when Anna Ebert hit one of two free throws and then pull ahead when the Hilltoppers’ Cassidy Kittredge hit a layup to put her team ahead one last time with 3:20 left.
Twelve seconds later Grace Thompson hit a 2-pointer in the paint to put CVU back up 32-31. She hit again almost a minute and half later to put her team up 34-31.
Still, St. Johnsbury didn’t fold. Adrianna Hever connected on an outside jump shot to pull back within a point at 34-33 with 1:44 left. But that was all the scoring for the Hilltoppers.
Berger characterized the contest as an awesome way for her team to put all its hard work together.
She admitted that she and her teammates may have been nervous early in the game, but they took a collective breath and realized: “All right, we’ve got this. We know what we’re doing. We’re getting good shots.”
Settling down and “just finding that rhythm” was the big change in the game, Berger said.
The Redhawks were taking good shots from inside, but many clanged off the rim. Early in the game the Hilltoppers were dependent on shooting threes, a discouraging amount of which fell in.
But CVU stuck with its defensive prowess and working the ball inside to take good shots.
This is the way to do it when your shots aren’t falling in, to stick with your game plan and continue taking good shots, Berger said, eventually, “you’ll find the touch; you’ll find the momentum; one goes in and then it starts rolling.”
Champlain Valley took the state record for girls’ state titles with this win, the school’s 10th. In her 13th season as head coach, Otley’s teams have accounted for seven of those record-setting title wins.
The coach asserted that winning titles never gets old: “Every one is special and fun in its own way.”
This team was special in watching how they became confident and learned how to trust each other, she said. The learning curve was big for Otley’s team this year because five seniors graduated from last year’s team. Berger was the only player who had started before this year.
“Everybody else had to had to pick up a new role and be ready to go,” Otley said.
In the pandemonium of jubilation, the coach took a few moments to contemplate the future and the prospects for next year’s version of the Redhawks repeating. It may be an even bigger challenge with six players graduating.
When asked if the team would be ready again next year, she said, “You never know. We’ll see.”
But, she said it with a smile that seemed to say she already was seeing something in the players who’ll return.
A member of the audience speculated that it’s a good chance that both of these teams might be back again, not only next year, but for some years to come. Both Otley and St. Johnsbury’s coach Jade Huntington run strong programs.
As Otley said, “We’ll see.”