CVU fends off St. Johnsbury for 5-peat in D-I hoops
The countdown began in December, a season winding its way to one last game that, without fail, boils down to a matter of minutes. And those minutes, like the ones that came before, whittle away to moments.
This year, the Division I girls basketball season reduced to Champlain Valley senior Marlee Gunn on the free throw line with 9.1 seconds to play, her Redhawks nursing a one-point lead.
Months of makes and misses, ups and downs, hinged on what followed.
“Out of that timeout I told coach I was going to knock them down,” Gunn said. “We practice free throws every other day the entire season, before school, and (I) just tried to make it as normal as possible.”
Gunn did her part, sinking both ends of the one-and-one opportunity, and when No. 1 St. Johnsbury’s last-ditch heave was off the mark, she and the second-seeded Redhawks could exhale in triumphant relief, their 36-33 victory on Saturday night clinching the state championship at Patrick Gym.
Like that, the group that lost one remarkable winning streak — a December defeat to Rice snapped the Redhawks’ record 96-game run — was the same one to extend two more.
RELATED: Seniors lead CVU to fifth D-I straight crown
Champlain Valley’s fifth straight D-I girls crown tied the Essex juggernaut of the 1990s; its 10th consecutive win at the University of Vermont matches the Mount Anthony boys mark during a five-peat of their own from 1988 to 1992.
“This is a giant glob of icing on top of the cake that I did not expect to get. I don’t know what else to call it,” CVU coach Ute Otley said.
“When I think about where we were when we were standing there after the Rice loss and everybody was talking about that streak, I was thinking about how fragile my kids were to now, watching how they played … even if the final is a total disaster those kids have come full circle,” Otley said. “The fact that they, in dramatic fashion, pulled it out — holy crap. It doesn’t get any better than that.”
Gunn posted 11 points while Abby Thut and Shannon Loiseau (10 rebounds) each had six to fuel the Redhawks (21-3) to a third win against the Hilltoppers this season.
Sadie Stetson led all scorers with 15 points for St. Johnsbury (20-3), playing down to the wire for the second straight outing after Thursday night’s 32-30 overtime thriller against BFA-St. Albans in the semifinals.
“Another nailbiter,” St. Johnsbury coach Jack Driscoll said. “Hopefully when the disappointment wears off they’ll be hungry and motivated to get back here. I’m sure they will be.”
SEMIFINALS: CVU books return trip to D-I title game
SEMIFINALS: Choiniere lifts St. Johnsbury past BFA at buzzer in OT
The Redhawks trailed in the opening minute but quickly found their stride and opened up a 17-4 lead midway through the second quarter. By halftime, CVU’s lead stood at 17-11.
But like they did in the semifinals, the Hilltoppers chipped away in the third quarter behind Stetson and freshman Josie Choiniere, Thursday night’s buzzer-beating hero, to set the stage for high drama at the end.
The lead CVU held since the game was five minutes old? It evaporated with 2:44 left in regulation as Choiniere, bumped after letting fly a 3-pointer, converted three foul shots to give St. Johnsbury a 33-32 lead.
Ghosts from the Redhawks’ regular-season setbacks began to crowd the periphery of the title game.
“When St. J took the lead on Choiniere’s three free throws … that’s when it was like, ‘OK, what do we got?’” Otley said. “And I have to say, that spot right there is where we lost to Rice earlier this year, we lost to BFA twice at that juncture where as soon as we lost a lead we had throughout the game, we stopped believing we could do it.”
Only this time CVU had an answer.
Finding a rare opening in the post against an undersized but extra-active St. Johnsbury team, the Redhawks found Loiseau on the left block. The junior forward up-faked one way and stepped past the defender to bank in a left-handed effort for a 34-33 edge with 1:46 to go.
“We practice that move all the time — we even do it for our warm-ups,” Loiseau said.
“Her composure to finish it — it looked like clockwork to me,” Otley said. “CVU bigs don’t have an off-hand. They better have a right and a left exactly the same.”
But time remained for the Hilltoppers and they found Stetson with a sliver of space to fire a 3-pointer from the top of the key with a minute left.
The long-range try spun around the hoop but fell off the cylinder to Loiseau, part of CVU’s 36-21 edge on the boards.
“It was at least halfway in there. But we didn’t get half the points, so…,” Driscoll said. “It was a good shot, it was the one we were looking for and it was the player we wanted to have on the shot, absolutely.”
St. Johnsbury had another chance with 20 seconds left but Choiniere couldn’t get a layup to go down and Gunn, fouled after the Redhawks got the ball inbounds, had her chance to shine in the spotlight.
The payoff — a third title for her and fellow senior Abby Thut — was as sweet as ever.
“It never gets old,” Gunn said. “It feels great every time.”
Contact Austin Danforth at 651-4851 or edanforth@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/eadanforth