Gal Ghosts Start Well,
But Lose to Montpelier
By Jill D. Montgomery

The Randolph girls gave the Montpelier Solons all they wanted to handle in the first half of their play-off game last Wednesday. Unfortunately the difference between a No. 14 seed and a No. 3 seed became apparent in the second half as the Gal Ghosts just couldn’t keep up the intensity. Montpelier won the game in the capital city, 60-42.

The Randolph fans certainly topped the Montpelier fans as the travelers packed their side of the gym, including alumnus Tomo, who is here on a visit. Tomo was a great help to the Gal Ghosts while she was in Randolph as an exchange student from Japan.

The Ghosts got the opening tip and converted that into the opening hoop when Sharayah Nonemacher scored for Randolph. Emily Howe followed that with a fast break lay-up with Montpelier answering with two freebies. Gwen Reis, finally back from a hip bruise, laid in the put-back for a 6-2 Randolph lead. With Shelby Peltier and Reis in the game the boards pretty much belonged to Randolph in the first half.

Reis scored again and the Gal Ghosts defense held Montpelier off until 2:04 on the clock, when they got their first floor shot. The Solons put in a trey but jumpers from Howe and Reis gave the Ghosts a 12-7 edge at the end of one.

The game continued to be intense and noisy as the fans warmed up, and Montpelier opened the second quarter with a hoop off a Randolph miscue. The Solons cut the gap to two before Howe came through with a steal and a hoop, but Montpelier knotted the game, 15-15.

The remaining four minutes of the half held two more ties as Brynn Fabian and Montpelier swapped shots from beyond the arc. Nonemacher sat with her third foul, hampering the Ghosts defensive line and the Solons scored at the buzzer to end the first half with a 20-20 tie.

More problems came for Randolph as Reis twisted her ankle 15 seconds into the third period and went hobbling off the court. Howe did her best to make up for the missing starters and scored all of Randolph’s points in the third. Unfortunately the Gal Ghosts could only add 9 while the Solons added 24 big ones to their total.

Randolph did tighten up their defense in the fourth and Peltier had five of her 10 rebounds as Randolph fought to stay in the game. The Gal Ghosts cut the gap to 10 several times but Montpelier continued to be deadly from the charity stripe and in fact hit 20 of 23 for the night, 12 of those in the fourth quarter.

Howe ended her high school career with her highest game, scoring 20 points, Fabian added 8, Reis 6, Peltier 5 and 10 rebounds. Nonemacher had 2 points and Arielle Connolly had 1. Randolph loses seven seniors to graduation but has six returning players.

After the game Coach Alan Stewart said, "I was pleased with our defense in the first half. Arielle gave us some good minutes and Sharayah had a great game until she got into foul trouble; she really controls the boards. Emily did a real good job too."

Montpelier’s top scorers were Jill Dellipriscoli with 25 points and Zeljana Varga scored 10 off the bench.