CVU girls basketball rallies for back-to-back D-I crowns, record-setting 10th title

Clinging to a one-point lead in the final minute, Champlain Valley Union High School girls basketball coach Ute Otley called a timeout.

In the huddle, the moment suggested for one of CVU's rarely-used inbounds sets.

"We save it for special occasions because we don’t want everybody to know it," Otley said.

On the opposite sideline of the team benches, CVU's Elise Berger lifted the ball above her head just as Zoey McNabb set a screen at the 3-point line, freeing up Samara Ashooh for a backdoor cut and a wide-open look in the paint.

Berger's lob pass was on the money, and Ashooh didn't miss her chance.

"It’s a little beat the cheat that we run and gets us what we need," Ashooh said.

"When you have a kid who can pass the ball like Berger, you have to take advantage of it," Otley said.

And the play that has no name effectively sealed another Redhawks' championship.

Ashooh's layup paired with Merrill Jacobs' clutch foul shots with 26 seconds to go sent top-seeded CVU to a hard-fought, 38-33 victory over No. 2 St. Johnsbury for the second of back-to-back Division I crowns in front of 1,114 at Patrick Gym on Wednesday night.

After graduating four starters, CVU reloaded for the program's 10th title, which breaks a tie with Essex for most Division I girls basketball championships (10) in state history.

"Our team worked so hard these last two years. We knew that we had to work harder than everyone else and we did that," Ashooh said. "Every single person on this team really wanted to win a state championship. We’re such a close-knit team."

Berger finished with 10 points, four rebounds, three assists and a pair of blocks to lead a second-half rally that saw the Redhawks (22-1) erase a seven-point deficit with an 11-0 run. Jacobs added eight points and three steals and Ashooh chipped in six points.

"Something really amazing about our team is that we are a true team," said the senior Berger. "You saw that in the second half, we did not give up. Every single person contributed to that second half and that’s why we pulled it out."

Ashooh, Berger's classmate, agreed.

"Coming into the playoffs, we knew this wasn’t going to be a one-person game, not going to be a two-person game — it’s going to be a 13-person game," Ashooh said. "This proves that this is a team sport for a reason."

For St. Johnsbury (19-4), Cassidy Kittredge struck for 13 points, Adrianna Hever tossed in seven points and Anna Ebert added six points, four boards, three assists and two blocks. All-state guard Hayden Wilkins was held to three points on 1 of 9 shooting.

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St. Johnsbury was the first team to keep CVU under 40 points this winter. But the Redhawks' second-half spurt and SJA's shooting struggles after a hot start sank the Northeast Kingdom school's hopes. SJA also lost to CVU in last year's title game.

"They made a little surge at us there that we weren’t quite answering on the offensive end," SJA coach Jade Huntington said. "I thought our kids played a hell of defensive ballgame. I don’t think anybody has held them to that point total in a quite in a long time.

"I’m so proud of the crew for the defense they put out there."

The Hilltoppers solved CVU's zone at the start. Wilkins' NBA-range 3-pointer — she splashed a heave near the Vermont Mutual insurance logo on Tom Brennan Court — just before the buzzer put the Hilltoppers ahead 11-3 after the first quarter.

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SJA settled at a 21-15 margin heading into the break, but had made 5 of 11 3-pointers. Otley thought her squad caught a break.

"We were really in trouble. I told the kids at halftime, 'We’re lucky to only be down six right now. I feel like we could be down 15,'" Otley said. "Everybody was a little hesitant, people weren’t sure what to run. Listen, St. J knows our stuff, they are prepared, they are where they want to be."

In the second half, CVU switched to man-to-man defense and focused on chipping away at the deficit. After Ebert's driving layup gave SJA a 25-18 lead with 6:13 to play in the third, Ashooh scored in the paint, Jacobs poured in a 3-pointer and Ashooh finished a Berger feed to level the game at 25.

After swatting a SJA shot on defense, Berger then put CVU in front for the first time with a bank shot to close the third quarter. McNabb's baseline runner to open the fourth quarter extended the unanswered run to 11 points.

The Hilltoppers briefly regained the advantage on Kittredge's backdoor cut and baseline layup, 31-30, with 3:20 to play. But CVU answered immediately, with bench player Grace Thompson dropping her shoulder and getting inside for a lefty layup. Thompson also nailed a mid-range jumper for a 34-31 CVU lead with 1:44 left on the clock before Hever drew SJA to within one point on a jump shot of her own.

That set up CVU's well-executed inbounds set. Huntington said they "talked about that exact play" during their timeout.

"We knew what they were going to run, it’s nothing new, we just didn’t defend it right," Huntington said.

Against CVU's man defense, SJA only sank one 3-pointer in the second half and committed 19 turnovers for the game, resulting in 14 CVU points.

"We just decided we are going to lock in and play man, take responsibility for containing your own kid," Otley said. "St. J is good enough team and a smart enough team that if somebody can draw two defenders, they are going to get somebody a wide-open look. And we just couldn’t afford to give Kittredge or Wilkins a wide-open look."

But besides in-game adjustments on Wednesday, CVU's march to a record-setting championship and Otley's seventh in 13 years at the Hinesburg school, the Redhawks got contributions up and down their roster. Thompson's late buckets, Nevaeh Parrish's second-quarter 3-pointer to regain team confidence and Nina Zimakas' defense — the reserves' minutes were just as crucial as the starters' time on the court.

"That was really the trick to the season. All of the girls who were enjoying being anonymous role players last year, now have to step into the starting roles. And kids who got no playing time last year, now have to step into (bench roles)," Otley said.

And they all bought in.

"They worked all season on trusting each other. It’s one thing to get in the gym to work. It’s a whole other thing to really work off the court to make sure everybody is feeling important, everybody is feeling loved, everybody is feeling necessary to the success of the team," Otley said.

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Contact Alex Abrami at aabrami@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter: @aabrami5.