Point guard leads New Hampshire to victory in Twin State Classic; New Hampshire boys come up short.
Alex Hall completed her senior season with the Pembroke Academy girls basketball team in March, but she didn’t stop scoring until Saturday.
Hall, a 5-foot-6 point guard, scored a game-high 23 points to lead the New Hampshire all-stars to a 64-55 triumph over Vermont in the Twin State Rotary Classic held at the University of Vermont’s Patrick Gymnasium.
Hall, who began her high school career at Trinity High School in Manchester, will play Division I basketball at the University of Hartford next season. She averaged 27.6 points per game as a senior, when she became the all-time leading scorer (1,617 points) for Pembroke Academy’s girls basketball program.
Hall, who scored 15 of her 23 points in the first half, was selected as Miss New Hampshire Basketball for the 2008-09 season.
“She’s fantastic,” Vermont coach Glenn Johnson (BFA-St. Albans) said. “We played a good game against a really good New Hampshire team.”
New Hampshire led 30-28 at halftime, and padded its lead in the second half. Hanover’s Courtney Ness added eight points and seven rebounds for New Hampshire, which leads the series 17-12. South Burlington’s Kelsey Beynnon led Vermont with 12 points.
“I was very impressed with how the Vermont girls played,” New Hampshire coach Pat Smith (Trinity) said. “If a few more things had gone their way they would have ended up on the winning side.”
Boys Basketball: Vermont avoids sweep
Despite a 23-point effort from Manchester Memorial’s Jason Chevrefils, New Hampshire dropped a 96-85 decision to Vermont in the boys half of the Twin State Rotary Classic.
Vermont led 42-38 after one quarter, 54-47 at the half and built a 20-point advantage with just under two minutes to play. Rutland’s Mark Comstock led the Vermont offense with 18 points. Burlington teammates Clancy Rugg and Shane Norris each finished with 14 points.
Vermont had a 50-36 edge in rebounds and shot 47 free throws – nine more than New Hampshire. Nute’s Matt Cloutier tossed in 13 points for New Hampshire, which had its series lead trimmed to 18-11.
Football: Shrine Game approaching
The New Hampshire and Vermont teams that will participate in next month’s Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl will begin practicing on July 22 at Kimball Union Academy. This year’s game will be played Aug. 1 at Windsor (Vt.) High School’s Macleay-Royce Field.
The opening kickoff is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. New Hampshire won last year’s game 35-0 to raise its advantage in the series to 40-13-2. Vermont will be trying to end an eight-game losing streak.
Franklin’s Greg Husband will serve as New Hampshire’s head coach for this year’s game. Husband guided Franklin to the Division VI championship last season.
Springfield’s Mike Hatt will be Vermont’s head coach. Springfield completed an 11-0 season by winning the Division III championship last year.
Each team will hold an intra-squad scrimmage at Kimball Union Academy on July 25. Both scrimmages are open to the public.
This year’s game will be the second time the Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl has been played in Vermont. It was held at Centennial Field in Burlington in 1967. The game is usually played at Dartmouth College, but was moved this year because of improvements that are being made to Dartmouth’s Memorial Field.
