Lady Hornets Win

Over Cabot

By Laurie-Jean B. Gauthier

When the 3-6 Whitcomb Lady Hornets and the 3-7 Cabot Huskies faced each other last Thursday evening in Bethel, it was the Hornets who prevailed. Both teams had injured starters on the bench. The Hornets were still without Virginia Wortman who is still mending a severe sprain, while Cabot’s leading scorers, Julia Gulka and Sam Talbert are both out with knee injuries.

From start to finish, it was Whitcomb in command, as the Hornets came out on fire and took a commanding eight-point lead, before the Huskies managed to get anything going. Emily Wright scored the opening basket, followed by a Tia McKenna hoop, Molly Taylor’s first-of-10 game, and a second Wright hoop, for the quick 8-zip lead before Husky Paige Hagget erased the goose egg. Whitcomb’s lead got cut to five, but that was as close as Cabot would ever get. Whitcomb was up 14-7 after one.

The Hornets continued to be hot as they deposited 20 points while limiting Cabot to just six second-period points. Once again, Wright opened the scoring, followed by a Laurel Adams basket. Adams and Taylor each scored six baskets to take a 34-13 halftime lead.

Both teams scored 14 points in the third quarter. Hornet’s Demi Aldrighetti and foreign exchange student Aneta Merksbauerova scored their first baskets of the game, Cabot’s Alexander scoring half of her team’s points. Taylor nabbed six of the Hornets’ third –period points. After the third the Hornets held a comfortable lead over Cabot, 48-27.

Whitcomb finished the game the same way they started, full of fire, as they netted their best quarter scoring 21 points, Aldrighetti netting eight of these while Willow Griffith scored her first varsity hoop and teammate Brittany Flint scored her first basket of the game. Caitlin Celley was high-scorer for Cabot with 10.

Whitcomb had four players in double digits, Aldrighetti, 10, Wright, 12, Adams, 19, and Taylor with 20.

Whitcomb hosts the Craftsbury Chargers tonight. The game starts at 6 p.m.

Loss to Concord

The Lady Hornets led 13-8 after one over Concord, 21-15 after two and ever so slightly, 24-23 after three, but lost to their Wildcat hosts, 31-27 when Concord managed to sabotage the Hornet defense when it mattered most.

A strong man-to-man defense in the first half had Whitcomb in control of the game. But things started to go in the Wildcats’ favor during the third when they managed to stifle the Hornets.

A second 8-3 period was all the wildcats needed, as they managed to erase the deficit and gain the four-point advantage win over their guests.

Taylor led the Hornets with 17 points and Aldrighetti was next with 8. The Hornets fall to 3 and 6.

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