Chelsea Girls Lose to Billstown
By Laurie-Jean B. Gauthier

The 7-13 and 12^th seeded Chelsea Lady Red Devils and the 11-9 and fifth seeded Williamstown Blue Devils both did their devil-best to end each others’ season in D-IV playoff action, but it was the Blue Devils who prevailed in the end, with a five-point advantage in the 47-42 contest. Williamtown earned a quarterfinal date with the 13^th seeded Whitcomb Lady Hornets, who upended and upset the fourth seeded Craftsbury Chargers.

Tied at a dozen each after one, and again at 23-all two minutes back from the break, neither Devil team led by more than four points. It wasn’t until the top of the fourth, that the Blue Devils forced the Red Devils to wane by controlling the action in the paint, while forcing Chelsea into taking shots from the outside that just didn’t go in. Chelsea also suffered from the line, going 1-of-5.

At the six-minute mark, a Heidi Hatch miss for Chelsea became a Stephanie St. Onge offensive grab and bucket that put the Blue Devils up by five, 37-32. The lone Red Devil free toss followed, but a Kristin Brown sneak in the back floor had the Blue Devils at 39-33, with their biggest lead of the contest. A Courtney Sanford basket for Chelsea was erased by a Stephanie Gagnon hoop, but back-to-back baskets by Robin Kennedy still had Chelsea in the game. A 10-footer by Blue Devil Emma Lamson and two free tosses by Kristin Brown at :47 helped Williamstown as they edged out the win.

Gagnon was game-high scorer with 17 points for the Blue Devils, followed by St.Onge with 11. Red Devil Robyn Kennedy had 13 points, and both Heidi Hatch and Brittany Tullar finished with 8 for Chelsea. Chelsea finished the season at 7-14.

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