Springfield Girls Basketball team is progressing

The Springfield Girls Basketball team sits in the sixteenth position in this morning’s Vermont Division II State Basketball standings. This means, if the play-offs began this morning, the Lady Cosmos would be on the road to face top seeded Lyndon Institute in the first round of the play-offs. So what?

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Springfield Girls Basketball team is progressing BY BILL MURPHYFebruary 16, 2017 basketball Springfield’s Hannah Crosby off on the go to create Lady Cosmos offense. As a sophomore, she is the teams leading scorer. Photo by Doug MacPhee SPRINGFIELD, Vt. – The Springfield Girls Basketball team sits in the sixteenth position in this morning’s Vermont Division II State Basketball standings. This means, if the play-offs began this morning, the Lady Cosmos would be on the road to face top seeded Lyndon Institute in the first round of the play-offs. So what? More than ever before, schedules in some sports, especially basketball, are really difficult to put together. The fact is the Lady Cosmos face one of the most difficult schedules of any teams in the state for a school their size. This is one factor that puts the Green and White at 3-9 at the moment. There are plenty of good things going on with Lady Cosmos basketball when the schedule doesn’t get in the way. When we last did a story on this team, they were 1-3. They have gone 2-6 since then. They have at the very least been symmetrically consistent. The focal point of their season has been their two games with archrival Bellows Falls. They lost both games in overtime. The bottom line is both teams were almost created equal and a lesser schedule has BF with a much better record. Unfortunately this time, that’s the luck of a divisional choice, which will be corrected in the future. One always asks about that team that faces tough opposition every time out: does it make you better? No one knows the answer for sure. The 2-6 stretch of games began with a win over Randolph. Hannah Crosby, who has emerged an a certified go to player, had a season high 23 in that game with Hailey Perham’s 9 helping a great deal. Then a couple of one-sided losses to power teams, Mount Anthony 72-28 and Windsor 49-31 found their way on the slate. Cassidy Otis’ 9 paced the Cosmos in the MAU loss, while Perham had 16 and Otis 6 versus Windsor. The first of the two BF games followed, a 45-38 overtime match-up. Otis was once again high scorer with 14 and Crosby had 10. The Cosmos then split a pair of games in which they played well, bowing to Otter Valley 51-42 before defeating Burr + Burton 45-42 in a strange game in which they rebounded from a 19-2 deficit. The Cosmos had a 36-35 lead with 4:45 in to play in the loss, a game in which Crosby’s 19 led the way, while Crosby had 22 and Madee Stagner added 9 and played an all around stellar game in the Burr + Burton victory. Stagner got in foul trouble early, but after she sat for a while, Coach Joe Costello decided to roll the dice and play her. Her added contributions on the boards and with defense sparked the win, which took an 18-4 run to spark the triumph. In the final two games in the stretch, first came the second overtime loss to BF, this one in double overtime 48-46 and then a hard fought 42-28 defeat at Mill River. Crosby continued to lead scorers in the most recent contests tallying 20 and 14 respectively. Freshman Hailey Perham scored 12 versus BF and Costello sees her “gaining in responsibility,” as the season goes along. Otis added 6 points in the Mill River game when Costello mentioned “we came out strong and took a 14-6 lead.” The reality is, the team lacks the confidence and the experience to hold on to such an advantage at this time. There are eight games remaining on Springfield’s schedule however most of the opponents are of the bigger variety. The good news “is that they are growing,” Costello assures us, but one may wonder if this group has the stamina to hold on to pull a major upset on another night when they run out to a Mill River type lead. Next year the schedule will be more realistic which is something for these Cosmos to look forward to. A big upset down the stretch is needed to allow the seniors to really see that growth. basketball Madee Stagner does a little of this and a little of that to help the cause of the Springfield Girls Basketball team this winter. She played a strong game versus Burr a Burton. Photo by Doug MacPhee Share This:Share on FacebookShare on Google+Tweet about this on TwitterShare on LinkedIn