-The Brattleboro Bears girls' basketball team's formula for success this season has been a simple one - play good defense and get the ball into the hands of junior guards Reese Croutworst and Abigail Henry.
"When they score, we win," said Bears head coach Karen Henry.
Croutworst and Henry delivered in the seventh-seeded Bears' 49-35 win over the No. 10 Colchester Lakers in a Division I first-round playoff game at the BUHS gym on March 5. Croutworst scored 22 points, including 5-for-8 shooting from behind the three-point line, and had seven assists. Henry was close behind with 18 points, including three three-pointers.
Doing the dirty work under the basket were Kylee Mager (seven rebounds), Naima Harris and Rachel White (five rebounds each) and Parker Thibault (five blocked shots).
Henry and Croutworst set the tone early with three-pointers in the first minute and full-court pressure on defense that disrupted the Lakers' offense. When Colchester got untracked and tied the game late in the first period, it was Henry and Croutworst who drove the lane for two quick baskets in the final minute for 12-8 Bears lead.
The teams battled through the second quarter which, like the first, ended with a surge in the final minute by the Bears. A Croutworst three and a 15-footer by Harris gave Brattleboro a 21-16 lead at halftime.
Brattleboro's offense really got going in the third quarter as the Bears went on a 16-4 run that helped turn a close game into a comfortable 38-23 lead for the Bears by the start of the final quarter. Colchester never got back into the game after that.
Coach Henry said she was pleased with how the Bears played in winning their first playoff game since 2014, but was fully aware that the next step on the playoff ladder was a tough one - a trip to Jericho on March 8 to face the second-seeded Mount Mansfield Cougars in the quarterfinals.
The Cougars came away with a 57-37 win over the Bears. In talking with reporters after the Colchester game, Henry said she knew what her team was up against.
"Mount Mansfield is a really good team," she said. "We'll do what we can to prep and give it our best shot. The goal is to play the best basketball that we can play, and if we do that and someone beats us, we'll tip our hat to them."
The Cougars were well aware they had to shut down Croutworst, and they held her to just nine points. Mount Mansfield was led by Maysa Long, who had 12 points, nine rebounds, seven assists, and four steals, and Meghan Thompson, who had 10 points and seven rebounds.
Brattleboro finished the season with a 12-10 record, With Speno, Mager, and White being the only graduating seniors for this season's team, most of the core of this group is expected back for next season.
Boys' ice hockey
• Fourth-seeded Brattleboro held off a late rally by the fifth-seeded North Country Falcons for a 5-3 win in a Division II quarterfinal game at Withington Rink on March 4.
The Bears led 3-1 in the second period and managed to keep that two-goal advantage despite a comeback attempt by the visiting Falcons. It was the second time this season that the Bears beat the Falcons; Brattleboro lost 5-1 in the home opener on Dec. 14 and beat the Falcons in Newport, 3-2, on Feb. 8.
Evan Wright led the way for the Bears with two goals and an assist, and Andy Cay, Gabe Alexander and Rylan Ernst each added a goal. Cay and Alex Dick each had two assists, and Alexander and Carter Mialkowski each had an assist. Freshman goaltender Senji Kimura made 23 saves in the win.
Brattleboro then traveled to Waterbury on March 6 to face the top-seeded Harwood Highlanders in the semifinals and lost, 7-0.
Harwood's sophomore goaltender Andrew Achilles made 17 saves to pick up his second career shutout, while Kimura was under constant pressure and made 53 saves.
Six different Harwood players scored, led by Eli Herrington's two goals, as the Highlanders took a 3-0 lead after one period. Meanwhile, the Bears struggled on the power play and never fully recovered after the Highlanders early scoring blitz.
Brattleboro finished the season with a 14-7-1 record and will lose three key playmakers with the graduation of Cay, Dick, and Wright.
Girls' basketball
• Sixth-seeded Bellows Falls started its playoff run in Division III with a 43-32 victory over No. 11 Green Mountain in a first-round game on March 5 at Holland Gymnasium.
BF had an 18-11 lead at the half, but GM got within three points in the third quarter before the Terriers steadied themselves and pulled away in the final quarter.
Bellows Falls then faced another familiar foe in the quarterfinals on March 8 when they traveled to Windsor to take on the third-seeded Yellowjackets. Windsor decisively defeated the Terriers, 53-34.
Kimari Wildgoose and Sophia Rockwood each scored 14 points to lead Windsor; Wildgoose had five rebounds and five steals while Rockwood had four rebounds and four assists. Abby Nystrom led the Terriers with 15 points.
BF finished the season with a 16-6 record. They will lose four seniors - Nola Sciacca, Aubrey Maxfield, Laura Kamel, and Emma McCullough - to graduation.
• Leland & Gray kept it close, but the 11th-seeded Rebels ultimately were defeated by the sixth-seeded Poultney Blue Devils, 34-31, in a Division IV first-round game on March 4.
Jacque Oberg led the Blue Devils with 12 points, while Hailey Hayes added nine points. Kristen Lowe led the 6-15 Rebels with 10 points. Leland & Gray will see four seniors graduate from the team in June - Lowe, Samantha Morse, Abigail Emerson, and Rihanna Dryden.
• Ninth-seeded Twin Valley had one of the longest road trips in Division IV, 150 miles from Whitingham to Plainfield, as the Wildcats lost to the No. 8 Twinfield-Cabot Trojans, 54-23, in a first-round game on March 4.
Kendall Fowler led the Trojans with 20 points. Twin Valley ended its season with a 7-14 record, and will lose Bianca Place, Leanne Crafts, and Alanna Bevilacqua to graduation.
VBCA Senior All-Star games set for March 22
• The Vermont Basketball Coaches' Association announced that the VBCA Senior All-Star Games will be played on Saturday, March 22, at Windsor High School.
This annual end-of-season celebration of high school basketball in Vermont will feature the Division III-IV girls' game at 11 a.m., the Division III-IV boys' game at 1 p.m., and the Division I-II girls' game at 3 p.m., with the Division I-II boys' game finishing off the day at 5 p.m.
Award ceremonies will take place in between games at 2:30 and 4:30 p.m. In addition to the four games, there will honors given out for 1,000-point scorers, Dream Dozen selections, Coaches of the Year, Players of the Year, Officials of the Year, scholarships, milestone wins, and more. During the halftime of each game, there will be a three-point shooting contest.
Bowling
• It was a challenging season for Brattleboro in the Southern Vermont League (SVL), as Fair Haven dominated the competition on the way to winning a state championship.
However, when the SVL announced its all-league honors last week, Brattleboro's Duane Bell was named Coach of the Year and one of his bowlers, Dakota St. Louis, was selected to the SVL's first team.
St. Louis and fellow senior Austin Pinette both represented the Bears in the state individual tournament on Feb. 22 in Rutland. St. Louis, the No. 7 seed, bowled games of 202, 150, and 187 for a three-game total of 539 and an average of 179.7, while Pinette was seeded 28th and bowled games of 178, 168, and 121 for a three-game total of 467 and an average of 155.7.
In the round-of-16, St. Louis defeated Emma Eckler of Fair Haven 182-120 and had a four-game total of 721 to clinch a spot in the Elite 8. St. Louis would lose to the No. 1 overall seed and eventual runner up, George Stamp of Fair Haven, 200-185, to finish with a five-game total of 906.
Brattleboro was the No. 8 seed in the state tournament on March 1 in Colchester and lost to No. 9 White River Valley, 4-0, in the first round. The Bears lost each of their first four Baker Style matches in the best-of-seven series by scores of 134-122, 118-112, 116-85, and 158-134.
Ski jumping
• Three local ski jumpers - Spencer Jones from Putney, Ava Joyal from Brattleboro, and Wesley Leonard from Hinsdale, New Hampshire - competed in the 2025 Junior National Championships individual competition on Feb. 27 in Park City, Utah.
Jones, representing Harris Hill Nordic, placed 13th out of 26 in the U16 Male K64 class. According to an email from Harris Hill Nordic ski jumping coach Todd Einig, Jones had jumps of 57 and 56.5 meters and had "some of the highest style points in the competition" for a total score of 178.7 in what Einig called a "very competitive U16 class."
Leonard, representing the Ford Sayre Ski Club, also competed in the U16 Male K64 class, and finished 26th with jumps of 39 and 38.5 meters for a total score of 74.8.
Joyal, who was also representing Ford Sayre, competed in the U16 Female K64 class and finished in 10th with jumps of 33.5 and 32.5 meters for a total score of 44.2.
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.