The ConVal girls fought until the bitter end of their compressed season, but saw their playoff hopes dashed at Hollis-Brookline in the Division II tournament opener Wednesday night.
“That wasn’t our best game,” said ConVal head coach Kevin Proctor after the 53-31 Cavalier win. “Not to take anything away from Hollis-Brookline…but if they play their best game and we play our best game at the same time, we’re gonna come out on top. We have more horses, we have more energy, we just didn’t have it tonight.”
The No. 6 Cavaliers expected a battle from the visitors in blue and gold after seeing 11th-seeded ConVal upset Lebanon in the season finale to improve their playoff standing and earn the trip to Hollis.
“That was the first thing I said to them in the locker room,” said Cavs head coach Bob Murphy. “They just came out of that big game with Lebanon that put them in place to play us, and they’re probably sky-high for it. They came out and looked really good at the beginning, and they looked really good at the end too – we just got a few more breaks, and a few more better shots, I think.”
There are few players in the state who can hang athletically with Hollis-Brookline’s speedy senior guard Elisabeth Stapelfeld, who led the state across all divisions in scoring at 22.1 ppg this winter. But ConVal freshman Allie Burgess was up to the task, blanketing Stapelfeld when possible and pulling off a big shot block.
“I don’t think she really cared who Elizabeth Stapelfeld was,” Proctor said. “And I don’t mean that in a disrespectful way. You could put any player in the state in front of her and she would play them the same, with all of her heart and energy.”
Burgess provided an offensive spark as well, scoring a team-high 10 as she streaked down the sideline to catch point guard Morgan Bemont’s baseball passes. She’d be the only Cougar in double figures, as both teams struggled to score early before the Cavaliers came alive at the end of the second quarter, where center Cheyenne Colbert punctuated an H-B run with a buzzerbeating jumper that put the home team up 24-12 at the half.
Colbert finished with eight points; Stapelfeld scored a game-high 20, and though the Cougars made one last run at it in the second half, the Cavs pulled away for the win.
It was the last game for ConVal’s longtime duo, senior captains Mairin Burgess (six points) and Maddy Faber (five points), who shared a tearful embrace after the game and received kind words from their coach.
“They’re just tremendous people, that’s what they are,” Proctor said. “They are the role models for all of our younger players, no doubt. Our goal is to build leadership, build leaders and get those leadership skills. That’s our program philosophy and goal and everything else is secondary. And these guys just bought into it right from the start. They obviously come from good stock and they’re from good families. But they embraced the process from day one – and they’re just tremendous humans. You’re going to see them do tremendous things in this world.”
ConVal finishes the year at 9-10. Hollis-Brookline (14-4) plays at No. 3 Bow (17-2) Saturday at 2 p.m.