Local Roundup: Rivendell Girls Rally Past Division III Champs

Thetford The Rivendell Academy girls basketball team picked the right time to begin executing well Saturday night against Thetford the end of the game.

The Raptors outscored the Panthers 15-3 in the fourth quarter to overcome a nine-point deficit and upset the defending D-III state champs, 37-34, at Vaughan Gym.

The loss snapped a 15-game winning streak for Thetford (4-1), which won 11 in a row last year en route to the programs first state crown. Its the Panthers first loss to a D-III foe since bowing to Oxbow in the 2012 semis.

Rivendell (2-2) sank three of its four 3-pointers in the final period, one each by Jen DeBois, Tayo Ameden and Mikayla DeBois. The last gave the Raptors their first lead, 35-33, with 1:31 to play.

Ameden (team-high 10 points) sank a pair from the free throw line with 19 seconds to play to all but seal it, 37-33.

Thetford made 1-of-2 from the line with less than 15 to go, then missed from long range in the final seconds.

Im very happy with the performance. It was our defense that won it for us, Rivendell coach Hank Tenney said. Thats what we pride ourselves on. Weve been in a lot of these close games where teams are scoring 30-35 points. We had a tough one the other night (Thursdays 43-35 loss at Woodsville), but we executed really well tonight.

The Panthers led 18-13 at halftime and by as many as nine on several occasions. In the fourth, Thetford missed a number of close-range layups and shot just 1-for-8 from the free throw line while Rivendell rallied.

We were impatient at times tonight, and I think some of our inexperience showed, said Thetford coach Eric Ward, whose team carries seven seniors, but lost seven from last year to graduation. Rivendell did a nice job, made some big shots. This is one were going to have to learn from.

Sophomore Izzy Wilmott led the Panthers with 12 points, while leading scorer Michaela Pomeroy (15.3 ppg coming in) was held to just four.

Jen DeBois and Riley Thomson finished with eight points apiece for the Raptors.

Jared Pendak

Whitcomb-Rochester 53 Websterville 27

Barre, Vt. The Hornets nearly doubled up on Websterville, improving to 2-1 on the season.

Lindsey LaPerle led the Hornets with 19 points. Phoebe Parrish added 15 and Savannah Sheppard had eight points. Whitcomb-Rochester led 31-14 at halftime.

Keene 62, Newport 29

Keene, n.h. The Tigers lost a tough matchup with the Blackbirds in the Keene holiday tournament.

Krystin Kibbey led Newport with 10 points. Kennedy Pysz added seven. Cate Rooney had 23 points for the Blackbirds. The Tigers face Con-Val in a consolation round today.

KUA 1-2 in Holiday Tournament

Groton, Mass. The Wildcats ended a three-game run in the Lawrence-Groton Holiday Tournament with a 56-38 victory over Groton School. Abby Kelly was named to the all-tournament team as she averaged 14.3 points in the three games, including 20 against tournament champion Lawrence.

Boys Basketball

Woodstock 69, Poultney 38

Poultney, Vt. The Wasps (3-0) took control in the middle two quarters, outscoring the Blue Devils 43-16 and coasting from there.

Point guard Kurt Ryder drained three 3-pointers and had 19 points to lead Woodstock. Connor Fegard added 16 points. Chris Townley had eight points and played strong defense against Poultney star Sam White.

Whitcomb 55 Trinity Baptist 8

Bethel The Hornets overwhelmed Trinity Baptist and improved to 3-1.

Chris Barnaby had 13 points, Zak Gillette had 11 and Spencer Taylor had eight for Whitcomb. The teams meet again at Barre Auditorium on Dec. 30.

South Royalton 72 Danville 52

South Royalton The D-III Royals came out of the gates quickly and held on to beat the defending D-IV state champion Indians.

SoRo led 23-7 after the first quarter and then pulled away for good in the fourth, outscoring Danville 17-11. Nicholas Howe led the Royals with 23 points. Keanan Thompson added 16 points. Jake Kinnarney and William Wuttke each chipped in with 11 points.

Oxbow 62, Blue Mtn. 35

Wells River, Vt. The Olympians had the range from 3-point land, draining eight from downtown to pull away from the Bucks.

Matthew Thomson led a balanced Oxbow attack with 12 points. Ben Emerson added 11, Tristan Longmoore had 10, Miles Garone had nine and Anthony Giesing finished with eight points. The Olympians pulled away by outscoring the Bucks 27-15 in the second quarter.

Rivendell 44, Thetford 41

Thetford The Raptors (4-1) clawed all the way back in the fourth quarter to stun the host Panthers (0-3).

Thetford took control early, taking a 17-7 lead after the first quarter. The Panthers still led 39-28 after three, but Rivendell answered by outscoring the hosts 16-2 in the final eight minutes.

Kolin Huntington led Rivendell with 16 points. Zack Gray added 11 and Shamus Peyton had eight points.

Matt Perry led Thetford with 10 points. Kyle Bowen and Matt Sonnhalter each added seven points.

Boys Hockey

Hartford 4, Northfield 0

Northfield, Vt. The Hurricanes (2-3) blanked the Marauders with four different goal scorers doing damage.

Nate Lemieux put Hartford in front for good just 17 seconds into the game, scoring with assists from Ben Rouillard and Tyler Hamilton. Griffin Shaw, Jordy Allard and Rouillard then added goals.

Lemieux added a pair of assists. Rouillard had another assist to also finish with three points. Adam Parker and Will Gardner each had helpers.

Teighan Meeker had 24 saves in goal for Hartford.

Lebanon 3, Kingswood 3 (ot)

Wolfeboro, n.h. The Raiders survived a tough atmosphere with a hard-fought draw at the Knights.

Ryan Damren answered an early goal by Kingswood to pull Lebanon even. T.J. Barber then put the Raiders in front as the first period came to a close. Kingswood added another to tie it up before Brendan Kelly scored unassisted on a breakaway in the third period to put Lebanon in front, 3-2.

Kingswood then tied it up with five minutes left in regulation. Damren hit the crossbar for a Lebanon highlight in a frantic overtime session.

Junior goalie Chad Fazio made 55 saves in his first career varsity start and was the backbone for us, according to coach Gary Smith.

Jack Whitaker, Nate Gariepy, Riley Sleeper and Cam Broughton each had assists for Lebanon.

Souhegan 15, Kearsarge 4

Amherst, n.h. The Cougars struggled to keep pace with the Sabers, dropping to 1-1 on the season. Kearsarge returns to action at Moultonborough-InterLakes on Jan. 3.

Girls Hockey

Lebanon 2, Oyster River 0

Durham, n.h. The Raiders earned a shutout over the Bobcats at the Whittemore Center for their first win of the season.

Karli Swenson, assisted by Sierra Rogers, put Lebanon on top at the 5:11 mark of the first period. Kyra Taylor added an insurance goal with three minutes left to play with Swenson and Rogers each picking up assists.

Goalie Erika Moffitt had 13 saves and drew praise from coach Brad Shaw for a few tough saves to preserve the shutout.

Massena 6, Hanover 1

Massena, n.y. The Marauders suffered a tough defeat to the tournament host.

Matti Hartman scored for Hanover, assisted by Margeaux Baker and Kelly Brigham. Goalies Kiely Smiga-McManus and Katie Fenton combined for 20 saves. The Marauders outshot the hosts 35-26 but were undone by some breakdowns in the defensive zone.

Burr & Burton 4 Hartford 1

Manchester Center, Vt. The Hurricanes (0-4) couldnt keep pace with the host Bulldogs.

Courtney Murray scored for Hartford. Amanda Nelson and Morgan Morrill assisted. Goalie Heather Dexter made 25 saves for the Canes.

Rutland 10, Woodstock 0

Woodstock The Wasps (0-2-1) were no match for the Raiders. Goalie Annabelle Lessard had 50 saves for Woodstock.

Alpine Skiing

Sunapee at Crotched Mtn.

Hillsborough, n.h. The Lakers opened their season with morning and afternoon giant slalom meets at Crotched Mountain.

Will Austin took second out of 102 racers in the morning boys race with a combined time of 78.84 seconds over two runs, less than half-second behind first place Elijah Wood, of Derryfield.

Jaquine Balch was fifth in the afternoon girls event, followed by teammate Laura Sullivan in eighth. The boys finished fourth place out of 12 teams in both the morning and afternoon events.

Bowling

Windsor Wins

St. Johnsbury, Vt. The Yellowjackets earned the top seed in prelims and then beat Lyndon in the Baker bowl final by scores of 175-156 and 201-135.

Junior Sami Poland had the high game of the day in prelims for Windsor, rolling a 210. Tristan McMullen rolled a 179 and 194, Katey Comstock had a 166 and 189 and Devon Campney rolled 188 and 144.

Montana Miller (146, 172) and Jeremy Diagle (155, 112) led Oxbow in prelims. Brandan Young paced Randolph with scores of 169 and 158.

Hartford Takes Third

Shelburne, Vt. The Hurricanes beat South Royalton in the consolation round of the Baker bowl to take third place at Champlain Lanes.

Hunter Brooks led Hartford in prelims with scores of 204 and 168. Wyatt Connor had 201 and 166. Robert Ingham led South Royalton with scores of 170 and 195.

Hartford fell to South Burlington in the first round of the Baker bowl, 126-129 and 160-211. Hartford then beat SoRo 145-124 and 123-95 to clinch third place.

Indoor Track

Raiders Kennedy Wins Three

Hanover Lebanons Corrinne Kennedy earned three first-place finishes in a 21-team indoor track meet at Leverone Field House.

Kennedy won the girls 300-meter dash, 55-meter hurdles and high jump to pace the sixth place Lebanon girls. Kim Merchant (fourth) and Kath Merchant (fifth) added strong finishes in the shot put for the Raiders girls.

Oxbows Izzy Giesing won the 1000-meter run, edging Hannah Giesing (fourth) in the same event. Sharons Anna Barnes took fourth in the 3000-meter run.

Will Merchant led the Lebanon boys with a win in the long jump. Josh Fontaine added a first place finish in the 1500-meter run. Ryan Milliken was fourth in the 55-meter dash, Raphael Harriman was fifth in the 3000-meter run and Marcus Roper was fifth in the shot put for the Raiders.

Cole Chapman earned a first place finish for Oxbow in the 300-meter dash. Liam Fleming (fourth, 3000-meters) and Sam Emerson (fourth, high jump) also earned points for the Olympians. Sharons Max Buskey was first in the sixth-heat of the 300-meter dash.

Boys Team Scores: 1. Nashua North 45, 2. Timberlane 41, 3. St. Johnsbury 33, 4. Thetford 30.5, 5. Lebanon 29, 12. Sharon 8, 18. Hanover 3, 21. Oxbow 1.

Girls Team Scores: 1. Nashua North 46, 2. Milford 41, 3. St. Johnsbury 41, 4. Monadnock 37, 5. Souhegan 34, 6. Lebanon 23, 7. Oxbow 18, 13. Sharon 3.

Source: http://www.vnews.com/sports/14908070-95/local-roundup-rivendell-girls-rally-past-division-iii-champs

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South champs: Wildcats edge rival Sun Devils to claim division title

TUCSON, Ariz. --The Scooby Wright and Rich Rodriguez mystery machine continues to roll.

Why not add mystical and magical in describing Arizona's improbable ride to 10-2 and a Pac-12 South championship, after the Wildcats defeated Arizona State 42-35 Friday in a sold-out Arizona Stadium for arguably the biggest win in school history?

No. 11 Arizona faces No. 2 Oregon next Friday in Santa Clara, Calif., for the Pac-12 title. Arizona handed the Ducks their only loss, 31-24, in Eugene in October.

"It's going to be exciting," said Rodriguez, who never has faced an opponent twice in a season. "It'll be a very tough task but our confidence (will be high) because we played them well the last two times."

Winning has become the new normal for Arizona under Rodriguez, who has won 26 games and lost 12 in three years.

"If I didn't think it could happen, I never would have (come) here," Rodriguez said. "I've been fortunate to be at successful programs (so) I thought we could win here and win big here. But we had to have some big things happen."

Voila! They have.

And no bigger than everything falling exactly how it needed to Friday. Arizona needed a Stanford win over UCLA -- and got the upset. Meanwhile, the Wildcats had to find a way to get by ASU, a team that just three weeks ago was in the national championship picture.

"You gotta have a little luck, a little fortune," Rodriguez said. "When we beat Oregon last year it allowed Stanford to win the Pac-12 North. Coach (David) Shaw deserves a big shout-out for giving us an assist. We appreciate that."

Arizona also had huge assists from others. The Wildcats before last season completed a $72 million facility on the north end of their stadium, have a new winning attitude on the field and melded a host of players who found synergy.

The list is long but no different than who showed up on Friday in what turned into a back-and-forth matchup until the end.

Quarterback Anu Solomon, playing on a b*m ankle and listed as questionable all week, threw two touchdowns. His coach and teammates used words like "gutty" and "impressive" to describe the calm and composed quarterback.

"He's a great leader for being a young redshirt freshman," Rodriguez said.

There also was true freshman Nick Wilson, who rushed for 178 yards and a career-high three touchdowns.

Throw in the All-American effort of sophomore linebacker Wright, plus opportunistic safety Tra'Mayne Bondurant, and Arizona had the makings of something big.

"He's worked his way back into being the type of player we knew he could be," Rodriguez said of Bondurant, who had 11 tackles.

Rodriguez called Wright one of the best football players in the country. Wright finished with a game-high 13 tackles, including two sacks.

"Two-star Scooby rose to the occasion again," Rodriguez said of his lightly recruited star.

All was the rivalry game in a nutshell. It also was the season in review with gritty and gutty performances in what has turned into a high-wire act from a group of unheralded players.

"We don't talk about it because you lose your focus," Rodriguez said of a conference title.

He used the comparison of eating an elephant to winning the title, doing it "one bite at a time. That's what we are doing. We're eating it one bite at a time. We took a big chunk out of it today."

It's been a 10-course meal as Arizona has won 10 games for the first time since 1998 when it went 12-1 and finished No. 4 in the country.

"People outside of us should be amazed," said senior Jourdan Grandon, who had a fourth-quarter interception. "But we knew what we (were) going to do before the season. We knew we had a great offense. We knew our defense was filled with seniors. We knew we had a shot to make a run at things."

That was Greg Byrne's hope when he hired Rodriguez a year removed from the coach's dismissal at Michigan. Byrne had a vision. And Rodriguez had a business-like, get-it-done approach.

"The reason why this is happening is because (the players) bought in from Day One what coach Rodriguez and the staff brought to the table," Byrne said. "The hard work that everybody has done, especially what the coaches have done over the last three years to put us in this position, is remarkable. I couldn't be prouder."

Rodriguez earned a $200,000 bonus for reaching the conference title game and a $150,000 bonus for winning 10 games.

He said he didn't know the first was coming, via the UCLA loss, until shortly after the game. When he heard, he was able to "bounce even further in the air."

Senior Mickey Baucus said he heard UCLA was trailing Stanford with about five minutes left in the game through a "little birdie."

That's when he got real nervous because the Wildcats and their defense still were dealing with ASU's attack, which pushed to the very end. But Arizona exorcised the demons -- err, Sun Devils -- after losing to its rival the previous two years.

Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

"You don't know how many times I've thought about this week," Rodriguez said. "You try not to put more pressure in the rivalry game, but there is ... that's all you hear from the fans."

Arizona fans left Arizona Stadium happy and many rushed the field after the win, congratulating their team not only for a good game but also a remarkable season.

"It's incredible from what we've come from," Baucus said. "We were all just going nuts. It's a dream come true. You know when I committed here five years ago, I thought we could build something at this level and we have. And now we've got a great shot to win at the next level."

Another week brings on another mystery to be solved.

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Source: http://www.foxsports.com/arizona/story/south-champs-wildcats-edge-rival-sun-devils-to-claim-division-title-112814

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