Girls Basketball: Burlington Central takes down Woodstock

Updated: February 13, 2012 10:34PM

The last two regular season games in which Burlington Central was blownout by a combined 41 points, seemed like a distant memory for the Rockets on Monday night. Central (12-15) did a complete turnaround with a 59-30 win over Woodstock to open Class 3A regional play at Hampshire. Jessica Laird and Brenda Thasavong led the way for the Rockets with 15 points each.

“It was a tough last week for us coming off those losses,” said Central coach Jenna Real. “But we kept telling the girls the playoffs are a chance to start all over again. So it was all about building their spirits back up and going out and showing what we can do.”

The Rockets did plenty in the first quarter. Laird, Catherine Kaynish and Sarah Nelson all had three pointers to help Central jump out to a 20-6 lead. The Rockets led 28-15 at the break. The lead was still a comfortable 39-23 heading into the final quarter and from there the Rockets continued to pull away.

“We just continued to build confidence as the game went on,” said Real. “I thought we did a nice job moving the ball on offense. We were able to swing to the weak side and get it into the post and kick it back out when we needed to.”

Laird scored eight of her 15 points in the final quarter, including a pair of threes to finish with three three-pointers in the game.

“We were so pumped for this game it was crazy,” said Laird. “We just wanted to put the regular season behind us and start over. We did a good job of being patient and not forcing shots.”

Thasavong was a consistent presence under the basket, scoring in every quarter. She also had seven rebounds.

Freshman Alison Colby had only three points but was a big contributor every where else with seven rebounds and seven assists, while playing steallar defense.

“I thought Alison was a huge factor for us tonight,” said Real. “She kept the team in a nice rythm and did a good job distributibg the ball.”

Central, the fourth seed, now prepares to face top-seeded Hampshire, a team the Rockets lost to by 25 points back on December 3.

“We have a lot to talk about from now until then,” said Real. “But I think the biggest thing is going to be our mental preparation. This was an important win for us. Now we have to carryover that confidence to Wednesday.”

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