Twin Valley’s Joslyn Codogni (20) is restrained by teammate Kate Oyer (22) as she protests being called for a foul during the second half of their girls’ basketball game against Leland & Gray on Jan. 9 in Townshend. Looking on are Samantha Morse of Leland & Gray (1) and Aliya Walker (14) and Bianca Place (10) of Twin Valley.
Randolph T. Holhut/The Commons
Twin Valley’s Joslyn Codogni (20) is restrained by teammate Kate Oyer (22) as she protests being called for a foul during the second half of their girls’ basketball game against Leland & Gray on Jan. 9 in Townshend. Looking on are Samantha Morse of Leland & Gray (1) and Aliya Walker (14) and Bianca Place (10) of Twin Valley.
Sports

‘Basketball with Bernie’ draws a crowd in BF

-There was a big crowd in Bellows Falls Union High School's Holland Gymnasium on Jan. 11, but they weren't there to see the Terriers play basketball.

About 200 people showed up for an informal free throw shooting contest for local elementary, middle school, and high school students that was sponsored by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.

There were 120 participants, each of whom got a free basketball and a certificate of recognition from Sanders. It was the third such "Basketball with Bernie" event of the day, with Sanders hosting contests in Lyndon Center and White River Junction before heading south to Bellows Falls.

Sanders said the turnout at BFUHS was "by far, the largest of the 11 events we've had so far." It was so large that Sanders's staff ran out of basketballs and had to take the names and addresses of the participants who were still in line so that they could get their their basketballs shipped to their respective schools. Considering they started the day with about 200 basketballs, that's pretty impressive.

There was no speechmaking or politicking going on. Sanders instead was kept busy signing autographs and posing for selfies with his fans, young and old.

For anyone who wanted to see his basketball skills, they were disappointed. Like any kid growing up in the five boroughs of New York City, Sanders played a lot of basketball and loves the game. And he's still a pretty good shooter, as shown in the many video clips of Sanders on the court that are floating around online.

Sanders said the focus with the "Basketball with Bernie" events that he's done around the state over the past few months was celebrating community and encouraging kids to put down their phones and go outside, be active, and have some fun. He hopes that giving kids a free basketball will help in accomplishing this goal.

"When I was a kid growing up, I played a lot of basketball, but I don't recall that my family had enough money to buy me a basketball," Sanders told VTDigger last fall. "So the idea of kids having their own basketball, being able to go out to the park, shoot hoops, play ball with each other - I think that's a positive thing."

Girls' basketball

• Leland & Gray rallied in the second half to beat the Twin Valley Wildcats, 43-37, in Townshend on Jan. 9.

Trailing 12-3 at the end of the first quarter, the Rebels gradually narrowed the gap and cut Twin Valley's lead to four, 18-14, by halftime.

Senior guard Samantha Morse scored all but two of the Rebels' first-half points. In the second half, it was defense and the efforts of senior guard Abigail Emerson and senior forward Kristen Lowe who helped lead the Rebels' comeback. Emerson and Lowe scored 12 and 10 points, respectively, nearly all of them coming in the second half. They both keyed a 14-2 run at the start of the fourth quarter to complete the Rebels' rally.

"I thought Abigail and Sam in the second half really controlled our offense really well," Rebels head coach Terry Merrow said after the game. "And then Kristen became tough underneath. That's probably her best game she's played this year. It was a great team effort."

Trailing 38-28 with three minutes to play, Twin Valley tried to bounce back, but ran out of time. The Wildcats were led by senior forward Alanna Bevilacqua, who finished with 14 points, and freshman guard Kate Oyer, who scored 12 points. They have played a big part in making Twin Valley one of the most improved teams in Division IV this season.

"I'm really proud of them," said Twin Valley head coach Jamie Brown. "At halftime, we talked about mental toughness and how it's so important that you keep in your mind 'we can do this, we're not going to stop, we're not going to give up.' They didn't quit and they battled back, so they should be really proud of themselves,"

After the high of getting their first two wins of the season, the Rebels had go on the road on Jan. 11 to take on one of the best girls' basketball teams in the state - the undefeated West Rutland Golden Horde. The Horde rolled to a 85-21 win.

West Rutland guard Peyton Guay scored a game-high 25 points, leaving her just 56 points shy of 2,000 career points - a rare milestone in Vermont high school basketball. Morse, Emerson, and Lucy Litchfield had six points apiece for the Rebels, who ended the week at 2-6.

Twin Valley hosted Arlington on Jan. 11 and lost, 44-37, to fall to 2-4 on the season.

• Brattleboro snapped a four-game losing streak with a 62-29 win over the Mount Anthony Patriots on Jan. 7 in Bennington.

Junior Emerson Frehsee led the Bears with a game-high 14 points and seven rebounds, including seven points in the second quarter. Sophomore forward Naima Harris added eight points and five rebounds, and junior point guard Reese Croutworst was held to just five points, but she had five rebounds and four assists.

The Bears got balanced offense in the game as 10 players scored, and seven of them scored at least five points. Brattleboro opened with a 10-0 run and led 32-14 at the half. The Bears' depth and versatility made the difference in this game.

In South Burlington on Jan. 11, Croutworst scored 17 points and Abigail Henry added 15 points as the catalysts in the Bears' 43-35 win over the Wolves. With last week's wins, the Bears evened their record to 4-4.

• Bellows Falls opened its week with a 47-33 win over the Twin Valley Wildcats on Jan. 6 in Whitingham. BF held the Wildcats to just two points in the first quarter, and took a 22-16 lead into halftime. The Terriers then turned up the defense. Twin Valley was held scoreless in the third quarter as BF extended their lead to 34-16.

BF followed up that win with a 34-32 victory over Long Trail School in Dorset on Jan. 8 to improve to 5-1 on the season.

Boys' basketball

• The Fair Haven Slaters won their first game in the BUHS gym in six years with a 72-40 victory over Brattleboro on Jan. 11. Phil Bean led the Slaters with 23 points, 10 rebounds, and six assists. Keegan Systo led the 2-6 Bears with 11 points.

Earlier in the week, the Bears lost 61-52 to the Windsor Yellowjackets on Jan. 7 at the BUHS gym.

• Bellows Falls avenged their loss to Twin Valley in the championship game of the Green Mountain Holiday Tournament with a dramatic 65-63 win on Jan. 7 at Holland Gymnasium.

The Terriers trailed by as many as 15 points in the second half before they got it together on offense and chipped away at the Wildcats' big lead.

Jaden Bazin led BF with 18 points, including two clutch free throws in the final minute that proved to be the margin of victory. Carson Clark added 15 points, Eli Allbee scored 13 points, and Coby Levesque had 10 points.

Sophomore guard Brayden Brown again put a show in leading Twin Valley with 36 points and 11 rebounds. Niko Gerding finished with nine points, while Brian Sullivan had six points and seven rebounds, Carson McHale had five points, eight assists, eight rebounds, and eight steals, and Steven Oyer had six points, nine rebounds, and three blocked shots.

On Jan. 11 at Holland Gymnasium, the Terriers took on Otter Valley and lost 72-34. BF had a hard time handling the Otters' press defense as they trailed 31-9 at the end of the first quarter and never recovered. Allbee and Will Hallock scored eight points apiece for the 5-4 Terriers.

• Leland & Gray won its first game of the season with a 55-46 victory over Rivendell on Jan. 8. With a 73-50 loss to Arlington on Jan. 10, the Rebels are now 1-7.

Nordic skiing

• The Brattleboro boys came out on top in a Southern Vermont League classical meet at Prospect Mountain in Woodford on Jan. 7.

The Bears were first with 30 points in the team scoring, thanks to a 1-2 finish by Willow Sharma and Nico Conathan-Leach. Sharma covered the course in 21 minutes, 10.6 seconds, finishing just 0.3 seconds ahead of Conathan-Leach.

Rutland was second with 65 points, and Burr & Burton finished third with 63 points. Mount Anthony did not have enough skiers to post a team score.

There was no team scoring in the girls' race, as none of the schools had the requisite four skiers to post a team score. Mayan Coleman of Brattleboro finished fourth with a time of 29:24.2. Mount Anthony's Roey Rella-Neill won the event with a time of 24:57.

Ice hockey

• The Brattleboro boys came up short against U-32, losing 3-2 to the Raiders at Withington Rink on Jan. 8. Evan Wright and Alex Dick were the goal scorers for the Bears. Carter Mialkowski picked up an assist and Senji Kimura made 24 saves in goal.

After U-32's Colton Warren scored in the first period to give the Raiders a 1-0 lead, Wright and Dick got their goals in the second period. Wright scored a shorthanded goal, while Dick scored on a power play. In between those two goals, U-32's Maddox Heise scored twice. The first goal came on a power play, while the second was a shorthanded goal.

Leading 3-2 heading into the final period, the Bears put plenty of pressure on Raiders goaltender Chase Pickel, who finished with 18 saves, but could not score. The two teams will meet again in the final regular season game for both teams on Feb. 26 in Montpelier.

• The Brattleboro girls remain winless after a 5-1 loss to Woodstock at Withington Rink on Jan. 11. The 0-7 Bears host Spaulding on Jan. 15 for a 4:45 p.m. game.

Senior bowling roundup

• Week 2 of the winter/spring season of the Brattleboro Senior Bowling League at Brattleboro Bowl on Jan. 9. saw Niners (10-0) stay undefeated while Full Monty (9-1) is close behind in second. Slo Movers (7-3) is third, followed by Charlie's Angels, Let 'Em Roll, Double Trouble, Sandbaggers, and Renagades (all 4-6), and Wayne's World (3-7).

Carole Frizzell had the women's high handicap game (243) and series (683), while Gary Montgomery had the men's high handicap game (245) and series (663). Full Monty had the high team handicap game (876) and series (2,501).

Kevin Napaver had the men's high scratch series (652) with games of 234, 224, and 194, while Peter Deyo had a 598 series with games of 224 and 192. John Walker had a 582 series with games of 209 and 201, Montgomery had a 564 series with games of 212 and 193, Rick Pietro had a 536 series with a 190 game, and Robert Rigby had a 531 series with a 192 game. Milt Sherman had a 514 series with a 199 game, Warren Corriveau Sr. had a 510 series, and Mike Pavlovich had a 202 game.

Carole Gloski had the women's high scratch series (497) and game (174). Gloski also had a 168 game while Frizzell had games of 170 and 168 and Nancy Dalzell rolled a 160.


Randolph T. Holhut, deputy editor of this newspaper, has written this column since 2010 and has covered sports in Windham County since the 1980s. Readers can send him sports information at [email protected].

This Sports column by Randolph T. Holhut was written for The Commons.

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