Cambridge Lady Lancers Win States, Head to Florida
by Ben Hogwood

The Cambridge Lady Lancers, a Vermont AAU 10 and under girls basketball
team, will be heading to Florida after winning the state championship in
Vergennes on Saturday and Sunday, April 24 and 25.
"We played absolutely fabulous those four games," said Greg Stokes, who
along with his wife, Stacy, coaches the team.
The National Competition is being held at Disney World in Orlando.
The big twist to this story is that the Lady Lancers really weren't
supposed to win. Competing against Cambridge in the competition were the
Vermont Lightning Black and the Vermont Lightning White, two Vermont All
Star teams comprised of the best players in the state, as well as
separate All Star teams from South Burlington and St. Albans. The Lady
Lancers are solely from the Town of Cambridge. "It's amazing our team
can even play with them," said Stokes.
Beating every All Star team in the tournament, it turns out the
Cambridge girls can do a lot more than just play with them. The Lady
Lancers didn't let one of the four teams they played against score over
15 points against them, while the lowest they scored was 30. In
addition, they defeated the Vermont Lightning Black, the best of the All
Star teams, 30-14. "The state team's not supposed to lose," said Stokes.
Stokes said the first game in the two day tournament, against the
Vermont Flyers, of South Burlington, was one of the team's scarier
moments. The tallest girl on the opposing team was five feet, eight
inches, with others as tall as five feet six inches. Maybe for a high
school team this wouldn't be anything out of the ordinary, but the team
members are no older than 10. The tallest girl on the Cambridge team is
five feet three inches. "I told them, 'you don't have to beat this team
every day. You just have to beat them today,'" said Stokes. The Lady
Lancers ended up beating the Flyers 31-15, then defeated the Rail City
Blazers 38-15. The following day, they defeated the Vermont Lightning
Black 30-14 and the Vermont Lightning White 41-9.
And on top of it all, this is the first year the Cambridge team has been
together.
Coaches from some of the other teams said the reason they won was
because they were the most unselfish team. They pass to everybody on the
team, with no individual player being any better than another.
The team will be going to Florida from June 26 to July 3. The Stokes and
the girls are currently trying to raise $8,000 to fund the trip. Last
weekend, they raised $1,000 through a bottle drive. "Every weekend in
Cambridge, you'll see them somewhere," said Stokes.
This could be a once in a lifetime opportunity for the Lady Lancers and
they're hoping to capitalize on it. "We hear that it is organized
similar to the Olympics with an opening ceremony with each team walking
in a parade carrying their state banner," stated Stacy Stokes. "We would
be proud to attend this event and represent the State of Vermont."