Burlington Central 58, Hampshire 48
It may have just been the conference opener, but the Burlington Central girls basketball team wanted to send a message to the rest of the Big Northern East Friday night: The Rockets are not about to relinquish their conference title without a fight.
"Anytime you're coming out and defending a title you have to set the tone early," said BC senior Cory Bazany. "When you come out with a convincing win in that first game it sends a message to the rest of the conference."
BN-East teams would be wise to listen closely to the message the Rockets sent Friday night, when they beat Hampshire 58-48 on Rocket Hill.
Bazany and sophomore point guard Jordan Maisto scored 16 points each and senior Melanie Laird had 13 to lead Central (6-3, 1-0). Bazany recorded a double-double with 10 rebounds. Senior Mallory Koster scored 16 for Hampshire (5-4, 0-1), which had a 4-game winning streak snapped.
"Central did a great job on defense and on the glass," said Hampshire coach Sue Ellett. "I've got to sit back and remember I've got freshmen and sophomores playing inside.
"This was a good test for us in a hostile gym. It's just one game and we learned some things we need to work on. My biggest concern coming over here was whether we could do some things on offense. They've always played great defense here and they did again tonight."
The Rockets broke out to a 10-5 lead after one quarter and although Hampshire fought back several times the rest of the night, the Whip-Purs could never get closer than 2 points. Central led 24-16 at halftime.
Hampshire used Koster's 12 third-quarter points to keep it close and trailed just 40-38 with 6:21 left in the game after freshman Alex Dumoulin (10 points, 7 rebounds) scored. But over the next 2-plus minutes, the Rockets went on an 8-0 run and led 48-38 after Laird took a nifty feed from Maisto for a bucket with 3:47 to play. Hampshire wouldn't get closer than 8 points the rest of the way.
"We needed to be rebounders first tonight," said BC coach Darlene Guyett, whose team grabbed 14 offensive boards in the game. "Hampshire always hits the boards hard. I thought Cory Bazany did a great job on the boards tonight.
"We didn't wait for things to happen tonight; we made things happen."
The Rockets also shot well on their own floor, hitting 22-for-45. Maisto's 2-for-2 performance from 3-point land in the third quarter helped Central stave off the Koster-led Hampshire rally.
"Jordan Maisto and our sophomores grew up tonight," Guyett said. "As a team we played within ourselves and got some defensive stops down the stretch when we needed them."
Chrissy Heine added 14 points and 11 rebounds for Hampshire.