EAGLE TIMES STAFF
‘This is just crazy’
By Christopher Shaban and Brenda Cox
BARRE, Vt. — Trailing for the first 20 minutes with ice cold shooting, Yellow Jacket Peyton Richardson’s bucket midway through the third quarter gave the Yellow Jackets their first lead of the game as they outscored, out-hustled, and out-rebounded Lake Region in the second half to win the Vermont Division III championship in a dandy, 37-30.
In typical fashion, halftime adjustments were made by Windsor head coach Kabray Rockwood that allowed the Jacks to take over the game in the final 16 minutes.
“We needed to tighten up our defense, and that’s just what we did in the second half,” said coach K. as Windsor threw the kitchen sink at Lake Region who gave Windsor one of their two losses of the year during the regular season. “We couldn’t buy a basket in the first half.”
A 3-2 zone, a 1-3-1 zone, man to man, some 2-1-2 stuff and of course the famous Windsor press just wore the Rangers down.
“We shot horrible in the first half,” said Elliot Rupp after the game. “We needed to step it up defensively.”
Windsor scored a total of 13 points in the first two quarters as their worst half of the season came at the worst time. The Rangers Sakoya Sweeney was taking it to Windsor with eight first-half points while the Jacks just couldn’t hit anything. Lake Region headed to the locker room with an 18-13 and at one time led 17-8 late in the first quarter. The lead could have been much larger with Windsor clanking everything off the rim if it wasn’t for sophomore Sydney Perry. The younger Perry sister stepped into the spotlight and beat up would be Ranger re-bounders as they were content to hold Reese Perry in check. Sydney would drop in 7 first half points but her big sister wasn’t close to being done.
“I love this type of game. I play to the whistle,” Reese said. “We found our game in the second half and it was go time.”
The “Aud” was electric and Lake Region were the two time defending champions but the Yellow Jackets were a different team to open the second half. R. Perry worked the paint and dropped in the first six points for Windsor to cut the lead to a single point 20-19 and when Richardson snapped the net giving the Jacks their first lead, the Windsor fans were on their feet.
“I wasn’t having the best last few games from the floor but you need to keep shooting to get that confidence back,” Richardson said.
Sweeney and Erica Thaler would take the lead back for the Rangers but it was the Perry sisters who said enough was enough with back to back hoops of their own to give the Jacks a 25-24 lead heading into the final frame. Windsor went deep into the bench with freshmen Sophia Rockwood, Audrey Rupp getting important minutes at guard positions that just kept the uptempo Windsor pace going and it started to take a toll.
“We were outplayed in the first half but we were ready,” said Holly Putnam as her guard play was phenomenal and helped shut down Sweeney for the rest of the way. “We did what we do best and that was play great defense and run.”
During the COVID-19 pause for Windsor, the Perry sisters didn’t stop and the one on one games in their driveway were “intense,” according to Sydney. That work ethic resulted in an incredible rebounding effort for sisters on the biggest stage as they would combine for 22 rebounds that Lake Region just had no answer for.
R. Perry gave Windsor a three-point lead to start the fourth quarter but when Danyelle Pion cut the Windsor lead to a single point 27-26, Richardson came alive. With the Rangers showing fatigue and Windsor in total control of the glass, a Karen Kapuscinski rebound started a Windsor fast break that found Richardson on a wing directly in front of the huge Windsor fan section, Peyton looked down to see where her feet were then fired away and her three pointer had the crowd on their feet, 30-26. 70 seconds later Richardson was in the same area with the same results and her shot was true and gave Windsor a huge 33-26 lead with three minutes remaining.
“Those were her two most important shots of her career,” said Rockwood after the game. “Those hits gave us tremendous confidence.”
With all the momentum on the Windsor side, Lake Region was forced to go to a full court press but the Jacks ripped the press apart. By the time A. Rupp was intentionally fouled, Windsor knew that had the state title in their hands. The countdown had begun and when the final buzzer went off, the mad dash to center court was on for the Yellow Jackets as they mobbed each other. Windsor had completed a 22-2 season with a 37-30 win in the championship game.
“This is my first state title,” Putnam said. “I was so nervous at the start of the game and the feeling right now is just amazing.”
With the Windsor players lined up on their bench awaiting to claim their medals and state championship awards, it was like seeing little kids on Christmas morning, they were all giggly and weren’t sure how long they could just sit there but once game captains E. Rupp, Kasuscinski and R. Perry had the awards in their hands, the celebration was on as one by one they made beelines and found their families and friends on the far side of the court.
“This is my first championship and it just feel incredible,” E. Rupp said. “Our tenacity came alive and we just did what we’ve been doing since kindergarten — play our hardest.”
The traditional cutting down of the net was memorable as each player and coach got their moment to climb the ladder and cut a piece of history for them to keep. When Kapuscinski started the show, the scissors didn’t cut well, of course this isn’t Windsor’s first time here so a pair of sharp scissors was sent in from a Windsor fan.
“Was I nervous? You bet I was,” said Kapuscinski after she had her piece of twine in her hands and a smile from ear to ear. “We stuck together when we were down 17-8 and just did what we do — play as hard as we can.”
Kabray Rockwood was the final person to head to the rim and his final snip and the raising of the net closed out an incredible year for the team.
“This is a group of players that just didn’t know how to quit,” she said. “Their work ethic was non-stop and their desire to succeed is unmatched.”
One of five seniors on the team, Richardson claimed her fourth state title and first in basketball (three in field hockey) with the Saturday win.
“This is just crazy,” she said. “It feels like nothing else.”
Reese Perry led the Jacks with 16 points to go along with 14 boards while Sydney dropped in 10 points and gathered in eight rebounds. Richardson netted eight points with all of them coming in the second half.
Sweeney was the big gun for Lake Region dropping in 14 points.
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