Despite loss to WRV, Cummings and Tyrrell end GM b-ball run with grit and pride

By Evan Chadwick
©2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC

On a night full of fond farewells to Kim Cummings and Grace Tyrrell, the two seniors on the Green Mountain girls basketball team, the Chieftains worked it to the very end.

They led for much of the first half and hung on within one possession until midway through the third quarter, when they fell 53-31 to a very talented White River Valley team, in what turned out to be GM’s last game of the season on Friday night in Chester.

White River would take an early lead thanks to a solid front court that grabbed offensive boards and quickly turned them into a 4-0 lead.

GM had an answer, all starting with Luna Burkland, doing what she does best, making plays. On this occasion it was Burkland corralling a loose ball and kicking it out to Cummings, who drilled a 3 to cut the WRV lead to 4-3 with four minutes remaining in the first.

After the White River Wildcats added another point-blank bucket, GM got a hook-shot from Tyrrell and, with seconds remaining, a full court connection that started with a Karen Vargas’ steal and ended on a Cummings’ layup that left her hand just as the buzzer sounded, narrowing the WRV lead to 10-7 entering the second.

‘Neither of them (seniors Kim Cummings and Grace Tyrrell)
are very vocal players, but they led by example.
We will miss them both greatly.’

GM Coach Jeff Buffum

Green Mountain would not allow the Wildcats to sit in the lead for long, as they opened the quarter with a 9-2 run that gave them their largest lead of the contest at 18-14 with under two minutes remaining.

“We were executing well,” said Coach Jeff Buffum. “Towards the end of the week we were able to get a couple of girls back, plus 8th graders, so we were able to go 5 on 5 at practice and work on beating their 3-2 zone.”

Meanwhile, GM’s 3-2 zone was working wonders, holding the Wildcats scoreless for the waning minutes of the first half until a final second layup cut the Chieftains lead in half at 18-16 as the second quarter expired.

Whatever the Wildcats discussed at halftime worked. The Wildcats, who many consider a contender for the Division 3 State crown, roared out of the break using a full court press that turned Green Mountain over early and often, scoring 21 points in the quarter to take a 36-22 lead into the 4th.

“WRV did what all good teams do. They recognized the issues and corrected them,” said Buffum. “They certainly played with much more intensity and purpose in the second half.”

As they have all season, the Chieftains battled to the very end of the game, scoring 9 points in the fourth, 5 of them from their two seniors in Cummings and Tyrrell, who played their last eight minutes of high school basketball with grit and pride.

“Just having them (Tyrrell and Cummings) there on the court as an example of how to play at this level, give your all and leave the court knowing you did everything you could for that 32 minutes, that is a huge benefit to the kids coming behind them,” said Buffum. “Neither of them are very vocal players, but they led by example. We will miss them both greatly.”

Green Mountain finishes their season at 4-14.