BFA-St.Albans guard Tiffany Johnson and Burlington forward Clancy Rugg have been named Vermont’s Miss Basketball and Mr. Basketball, respectively, for the 2008-09 season.
The awards recognize the best players in boys and girls basketball, regardless of class.
Johnson became the first BFA-St. Albans player to score 1,000 points and collect 1,000 rebounds in the program’s history. She helped the Comets reach the Division I semifinals in each of the last four years. BFA-St. Albans finished 22-2 last season following a loss to Spaulding in the championship game.
Johnson averaged 14 points, 12 rebounds, 7.3 assists, five steals and 2.5 blocks per game during her senior season.
She led BFA to an 84-12 record and finished her four-year career with 1,108 points, 1,007 rebounds, 528 assists and 364 steals.
Johnson has accepted a full scholarship to play basketball at Franklin Pierce College, a Division II school located in Rindge, N.H. Franklin Pierce advanced to the championship game of this year’s NCAA Division II tournament.
"I think the best part of her game is how she controls the game,” Burlington coach Doug Cheeseman told the Free Press. “She will hit a big shot, pull down a big rebound, make a big pass. If they need something she gets it. If somebody is underneath the basket she will get the ball to her. If they need a shot she will make it. If they need a rebound she will find some way to get it."
Rugg, who is 6-foot-7, completed his high school career with 889 points. Burlington had a 68-3 record with Rugg in the lineup, including a 24-0 season in 2007-08. The Seahorses made it to the state championship game in each of Rugg’s three high school seasons, but ended their season with losses to Rice Memorial in 2007 and 2009.
"Junior year when we won the championship - that has to be the best," Rugg told the Free Press. "That was just an incredible experience to be part of. I'm happy to have done it while I was here."
Last season Rugg averaged 17.8 points, eight rebounds and 3.4 blocked shots per game. Burlington entered the championship game with a 22-0 record and a 46-game winning streak.
Rugg collected the state’s Gatorade Player of the Year Award, and was named the boys basketball Player of the Year by the Vermont Basketball Coaches’ Association.
Next season Rugg said he will either play for the University of Vermont or spend a year at Northfield-Mount Hermon prep school in Massachusetts.
Burlington coach Matt Johnson told the Free Press that college basketball is definitely in Rugg’s future.
"I think with the progress Clancy has made over the last couple of years and how his game has developed, he has steadily progressed to be able to play at the next level," Johnson said. "It's in his court to take it to the next level."
