CVU girls return to the court after nearly a year

After waiting more than 340 days since playing in its last official game, the Champlain Valley Union High School girls’ varsity basketball team couldn’t wait to get back out on the hardwood. They opened up their season on Feb. 12 with a convincing, 54— 19, win over South Burlington.

Because of the long delay, both teams seemed to stumble at the start, which led to the Redhawks jumping out to a 8 — 2 advantage after the first period. While the ball wouldn’t fall in the basket for the Redhawks, the Ute Otley-coached team showed defense plays a major role in the outcome. The CVU girls played it relentlessly in the second frame to lead 22 — 4 at the half time intermission, and 42 — 11 after three quarters.

Led by Catherine Gilwee’s 12 points and seven assists the CVU squad coasted to victory. Maddie Reagan was a key figure all over the court, posting seven points, six rebounds and stealing the ball five times from the lady Green Knights.

It was a fine-tuning type of match for the Redhawks with a lot of substitutions, and all players seeing a lot of time on the court in the season opener.

The second game for the CVU girls’ on the 2021 schedule had them traveling to St. Johnsbury, who seemed to be a real nemesis the last few years for the Redhawks, beating them in the finals two seasons ago.

Thinking back now, that was the last time a Redhawks team has come up on the losing end of a contest. That wasn’t to be on Feb. 15, as the disciplined CVU squad showed tenacity on both ends of the court to pull out a 47 — 19 lopsided win.

The Redhawks again spread their scoring out, with Madison Reagan totaling 11 points, and pulling down seven rebounds. Next on the stats sheet shows sophomore Shelby Companion tallying eight points and swiping the ball six times.

Future UVM-bound Catherine Gilwee, showed her attributes all over the hardwood, with seven points, seven assists, five rebounds, and four steals.

After the game, coach Otley said, “I think it will take us some time to get our timing right on our offensive sets since we have so many new players on varsity this year.” Hearing this tells one, that the future CVU opponents better be prepared, because the Redhawks are only going to get better.

Otley added that she expected BFA, Essex, and Rice to be strong opponents in 2021.

Hinesburg has the following players on this year’s team: Phoebe Dennison, Jade Leavitt, and Shelby Companion.

Representing Shelburne on this year’s squad are Catherine Gilwee, Elise Berger, and Samara Ashooh.