By Bob Fredette
Rutland Herald Correspondent
More than 16,000 career points will go marching out the door on Saturday but 1,404 that are sticking around belong to Olivia Rockwood. The hometown fan-favorite will likely draw the biggest cheers when this season’s 1,000-point scorers are honored at the Vermont Basketball Coaches Association 2018-19 All-Star game at Windsor High School.
Rockwood has a season to go for the Yellow Jackets, who she has helped go Barre three times while winning a Division III title last year. Windsor fans are probably already speculating how high up the all-time scoring list she’ll climb.
“If there’s anybody who could (reach 2,000 points), it’s her,” said her coach, Bruce Mackay.
Rockwood is a rare breed indeed. She averages nearly six assists a game, is among Windsor’s leading rebounders and plays defense like a demon. It’s just that sometimes she has to be encouraged to shoot more.
“She’d rather pass the ball,” said Mackay.
The three-year starter is a three-time member of the VBCA’s Dream Dozen.
“She has never missed a game and she’s my best ballplayer and my hardest worker,” Mackay said. “The biggest thing is she’s a great teammate.”
The Windsor girls’ school record of 2,054 points (Candace Holiday, third all-time) looks safe but Rockwood will certainly make a run to join Vermont’s all-time top 10 and that’s saying something.
The season’s over but already next year is in sight. The cycle of high school basketball never stops moving.
Thirteen boys and girls passed 1,000 points this season and what’s a little unusual is that four schools will say farewell to a girls and boys 1000-point scorer each: Rutland’s Jamison Evans (with 1,091 points) and Elise Magro (1,085), St. Johnsbury’s Sadie Stetson (1,280) and Alex Carlisle (1,215), Milton’s Ian Jennings (1,194) and Cassidy Button (1,035), and Chelsea/Thetford’s Kiana Johnson (1,119) and Jake Colby (1,181).
Stetson and Carlisle are going out with a special distinction, having led their teams to a sweep of this year’s Division I championships.
Evans’ quest for three straight state titles with Rutland fell short but he departs as the only Raider in history to play on three state finals teams. He’s also the first Raider to be voted Gatorade Player of the year.
“When you look back on what he’s been a part of it’s pretty impressive,” said his coach, Mike Wood, whose teams were 64-7 the last three years with a 43-game win streak.
Evans was the state’s most sensational scorer this year, from his tomahawk slam dunks in transition, ability to drive with a big first step and 3-point shooting from well behind the arc. Shooting from just 19 feet, 9 inches as part of Saturday’s 3-point shooting contests will be rather pedestrian for a player who routinely makes 24-footers and hit at least one shot from mid-court this year.
“He can do all those things and he create his own shot and he can finish with contact,” said Wood.
Evans, who came off the bench as a sophomore on an ultra-talented team, scored more than 400 points this season: that while missing a stretch of games with an injury and with defenses always trying to shut down he and teammate Jacob Lorman.
He will be taking his talents to Division II Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla., where he’s earned a scholarship.
Classmate Magro was a three-year starter for the Raiders girls but even as a freshman, coach Nathan Bellomo was giving her about as many minutes as anyone as he prepared her to run the team at the point for the next three seasons.
Magro played multiple positions as a freshman to get a full understanding of the offense and in a sense carried that through her entire career.
“She’s sort of a ‘maker,’” said Bellomo. “She does multiple things. She gets to the line, we put her in the block because she can post people up and she can hit the outside shot. Her game covers a lot of different areas.”
Magro will be taking her game to Division III University of New England next year.
“I think it’s going to be a good fit for her,” Bellomo said.
Not all of this year’s celebrated seniors will be going on in basketball. Multi-sport star Bryson Richards of U-32, for one, will be heading to the University of Rhode Island on a golf scholarship. He’ll have one last hurrah in today’s D-I/II game and a spot in the 3-point shooting contests.
Others, like Danville’s Ian Steele (1,049 points) and Rockwood, will be here next season, and their followers are already looking forward to it.
“Olivia and Angelina Bigwood are my only seniors so they’re going to want (a title) a little bit more,” Mackay said.
The cycle of basketball churns on and on.
As your daily newspaper, we are committed to providing you with important local news coverage for Sullivan County and the surrounding areas.