The girls' high school basketball playdowns got underway last night, and right off the bat there was an upset in Division one as the fourteenth-seeded Brattleboro Colonels shocked number three Essex, winning by two points in overtime 45-43.
Devin Millerick had 11 points to lead Brattleboro to the win over a Hornets team that made it to last year's division one finals.
In other division one games it had been more than a decade since North Country won a playoff game, but the fifth-seeded Falcons ended that streak last night with a 44-36 victory over Rutland. Kylie Wright led North Country with a double-double of sixteen points and eleven rebounds.
Colchester hosted BFA-St. Albans but the seventh-seeded Lakers fell to the number ten Bobwhites 45-29. Hannah Earl had eleven points for BFA-St. Albans in the upset.
Lisa Sulejmani was dominant for Rice, scoring twenty-nine points to lead the second-seeded Green Knights past Burr and Burton 53-40.
Norah Mitchell also had a big night with seventeen points and six rebounds for Burlington, who dispatched Mount Mansfield 64-32.
Number six St. Johnsbury beat eleventh seeded South Burlington 46-33. The top-ranked CVU girls remain undefeated on the year, beating Spaulding 49-38. Sadie Otley led the way with fourteen points.
And rounding out Division one play Mount Anthony topped Middlebury 73-37, with Madison Little pouring in twenty-four points.
In Division two, a thriller between Lamoille and Mount Abraham went down to the wire, with Jasmin Daigle-Arnold scoring the winning basket with eleven seconds to go, giving Lamoille a 42-41 road victory over Mount Abe. Elsewhere number three Lyndon beat number fourteen Woodstock 63-32.
An upset in Milton as the seventh-seeded host squad trailed at half time fifteen and three, and couldn't recover as the number ten Randolph Galloping Ghosts won 35-29.
Lexi Quenneville had a game-high fifteen points to lead Fair Haven over Otter Valley 39-33.
Lake Region topped Vergennes 64-25. Defending champion Mill River got nineteen points from Rylee Nicholas to beat Springfield 52-31, and Megan Domina had eighteen points to lead BFA-Fairfax over Hartford 46-34.
In Division three Thetford beat Peoples Academy 58-28, number one Enosburg ran over Poultney 72-36 behind twenty points from Emilee Bose, Windsor got by Winooski 39-30, Leland & Gray topped Northfield 29-20, and Twin Valley was a winner over Oxbow 45- 32.
There was one upset in Division four play last night, with eleventh-seeded Arlington beating number six Craftsbury 39-33, with Riley Lane recording fifteen points to power Arlington to the win.
In the Division one Boys' high school hockey quarterfinal playoffs, Spaulding and Rice played a dandy, going to overtime tied at two, but it took just twenty-two seconds into sudden death before Brad Romeo potted the game winner for Spaulding in a 3-2 win. Logan Copeland assisted Romeo's overtime strike.
In Division two, U-32 and North country were in a tight one, tied at four in the third period before U-32 pulled away with two goals for a 6-4 victory. Connor Barrett had two goals and an assist for the Raiders, including the go-ahead and eventual game-winning goal.
And in Division two girls high school hockey playoffs, top-seeded U-32 toppled beat Burlington-Colchester 3-1. Cricket Basa had two goals to lead host U-32 to the win. Also in Division two girls quarterfinal action, number six Rice pulled off an upset over number three Missisquoi 4-2. Tatum Shappy had two goals and an assist, including an empty-netter in the final seconds to salt the game away for Rice.
In pro hockey the New Jersey Devils snapped a three-game losing skid, beating the New York Rangers 5-2, with Lee Stempniak breaking a two-all tie in the second period to give Jersey the win and inch them closer to a wild card berth, now just a point behind the Boston Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins, who face off against each other tonight at TD Garden. The race for playoff spots in the eastern conference is tighter than a pickle jar lid that's been sealed by a weight lifter.
