Friday Night Lights: Top Matchups to Watch Part 1 – CVU vs BHS
In this article:
It’s a good day for VT basketball! We’ve got the top six D1 teams in action with #1 CVU facing #3 Burlington, and #2 MMU vs #6 BFA St. Albans. Then #4 Essex visits South Burlington while Rice heads to…
Access all of Prep Girls Hoops
Continue reading this article and more.
Continue ReadingIt’s a good day for VT basketball! We’ve got the top six D1 teams in action with #1 CVU facing #3 Burlington, and #2 MMU vs #6 BFA St. Albans. Then #4 Essex visits South Burlington while Rice heads to the NEK to visit #5 St. Johnsbury. Let’s get a look at the top two games, the first being CVU vs BHS. Let’s dive in!
#1 Champlain Valley vs #3 Burlington
This game is poised to set the table for the rest of the season. Will BHS prove themselves a true title contender and challenge the defending champs, or will CVU separate themselves from the pack?
CVU’s well-oiled machine is operated by 5’10 2024 G Elise Berger, a stout ballhandler with excellent court vision and care for the rock. Her running mate, 5’8 2026 Zoey McNabb Zoey McNabb 5'7" | PG Champlain Valley Union Highschool | 2026 State NewE , compliments Berger well with her ability to knock down jumpers off Berger’s drives and handle the rock against ball pressure. Moreover, these two are vital to CVU’s defensive effort as they utilize quickness and size to damper opposing backcourts. 5’9 2024 Merrill Jacobs Merrill Jacobs 5'7" | SF Champlain Valley Union | 2024 State NewE and 6’0 2024 Samara Ashooh Samara Ashooh 6'0" | PF Champlain Valley Union | 2024 State NewE pair up to make a formidable frontcourt chock full of heady offense, shooting, and hardnosed defense. Off the bench comes 6’1 2025 Lauren Vaughan Lauren Vaughan 6'1" | PF Champlain Valley | 2025 State NewE , a versatile W/F who covers a lot of ground in a brief amount of time, and 5’6 2024 Neveah Parrish Neveah Parrish 5'5" | PG Champlain Valley | 2024 State NewE , a savvy senior guard who orchestrates this team to a tee.
On the other hand, BHS is fully loaded with talent. 5’10 2025 Atika Haji Atika Haji 5'10" | SG Rice Memorial | 2025 State NewE and 5’9 2026 Rosa Kori Rosa Kori 5'10" | PF Rice Memorial | 2026 State NewE returned from Rice, bringing versatile size defensively and some offensive firepower, especially Haji, who can create and finish at each level. The spine of BHS has been 5’7 2025 Bree McDonald Bree McDonald 5'6" | PG Burlington | 2025 State NewE , 5’9 2025 Nylah Mitchell Nylah Mitchell 5'8" | PF Burlington HighSchool | 2025 State NewE , and 5’4 2026 Dieuna Beynonn Dieuna Beynonn 5'5" | PG Burlington | 2026 State NewE . Bree’s offensive creation is top tier and Dieuna adds tough slashing + smart orchestration while Nylah greases the offense with her passing, rebounding and second chance opportunities. To round out the rotation, 5’9 2024 Hawa Mubarak Hawa Mubarak 5'9" | SF Burlington | 2025 State NewE is back in the line-up, an athletic two-way player. And 5’7 2027 Emma Maley, a smart scorer who can heat up quickly. BHS has a lot of pieces but I’m wondering if they’ve put it all together yet.
CVU’s chemistry and discipline on both ends will certainly make things tough on this BHS team that’s still gelling. I got CVU coming out on top, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it came down to the wire.