Fair Haven, BBA Leave Canfield 40

FAIR HAVEN — The host Fair Haven girls basketball team and Burr and Burton Academy left the Mary Canfield Holiday Invitational on Saturday with 4-0 records.

Fair Haven defeated Otter Valley in the event on Thursday and then shook off a tough Mount Abraham team on Saturday to win 42-36.

Back on Dec. 9, Fair Haven had a much easier time against Mount Abe in the season opener, cruising to a 42-28 victory.

"We knew they would come out a lot harder this time," said Fair Haven's Brittney Love who was named the tournament MVP. "They didn't want to be 0-3."

Burr and Burton looked as though it was going to make a shambles of Saturday's game with Otter Valley. The Bulldogs won the opening quarter 12-1 and then built up a 21-point lead (26-5) midway through the second quarter.

But the Otters played their best stretch of basketball of this early season by outscoring the Bulldogs 10-0 in the third quarter to get back in the game.

They whittled the lead all the way down to six points (28-22) before fading down the stretch and losing 48-28.

"A game is 32 minutes," Otter Valley coach Ray Counter said.

Still, he was encouraged by that third stanza.

"It showed what we can do," he said.

Joining Love on the All-Tournament Team were Otter Valley's Ryleigh LaPorte, Fair Haven's Lily Briggs, Mount Abraham's Maia Jensen and BBA's Julia Decker.

FH 42, MT. ABE 36

The Eagles wasted no time in sending the message that they were in the house to play and that this would be a much different game than the season opener.

Maia Jensen knocked down two free throws for the game's first points and the Eagles kept that lead through the quarter.

Isabelle Cole nailed a 3-point field goal that gave the Slaters a 21-19 lead but Morgan Barnard connected from the outside to send the teams to the locker room in a 21-21 tie.

It was deadlocked at 25-25 when Love canned a 3-pointer and the Slaters held the lead the rest of the way.

"We had a great talk at halftime and we started hustling more," Love said.

Love and Cole led the Slaters with 11 points apiece and Alana Williams, who did much of the heavy lifting on the boards, added eight points.

Briggs had a stellar floor game with seven rebounds and five steals.

Jensen led the Eagles with 13 points and Lucy Parker tossed in another eight.

"It was a better second half," Fair Haven coach Kyle Wilson said.

"Mount Abraham really competed and outplayed us in the first half.

"We worked much harder in the second half."

The Slaters will put that 4-0 record on the line Tuesday at home against Middlebury and travel to Brattleboro on Friday.

BBA 48, OV 28

You could almost hear Foreigner singing those lyrics "Cold as ice" in the first quarter as Otter Valley could not connect on a single hoop from the floor.

The only point for the Otters was a free throw from Elena Politano as the Bulldogs led 12-1 at the end of the stanza.

BBA still led 28-12 at the half and it appeared as though the Otters were in a hole they could never dig out of.

They nearly did. They won that third quarter 10-0 despite leaving Ryleigh LaPorte in the dark.

LaPorte was out in the open court driving for a layup when the gym lost power, going totally dark.

LaPorte stopped her drive and the lights came back on seconds later.

OV's Aleksandra Savela made a free throw to pare the lead to six (28-22) at the end of the third quarter.

"We needed to get the ball in transition but we got away from that in the third quarter," BBA coach Erin Mears said.

But the Bulldogs recovered. Macy Mathews made a 3-pointer and BBA was on its way to a  20-point victory and a 4-0 record.

It's great to be 4-0 but the more exciting news is that Navaeh Camp will be joining the team.

Camp was one of BBA's leading scorers and rebounders last season but went away to a private school this year before deciding to return.

"She is a great player," junior guard Sadie Stefanak said. "She is a big point getter and a good rebounder and she plays great defense."

Otter Valley will also be getting some help. Senior leader Anna Lee, an outside threat, has been out ill and is expected to return to the lineup.

Counter saw the 10-0 third-quarter spree as a sign that the Otters are grasping the concepts.

"We are starting to figure it out," he said.

"Defensively I thought we played well over all," Mears said.

She now gets the Bulldogs prepared for the Mount Mansfield Tournament which will be held on Tuesday and Thursday. The field is comprised of MMU, BBA, Essex and North Country.

LaPorte led the Otters with nine points.

Leading the Bulldogs were Ainerose Souza with 16 points, Decker with 10, Josephine Powers with nine and Stefanak with eight.

The Otters host Middlebury on Friday and Counter will be looking for his team to spread that third-quarter magic over the rest of the game.

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