WESTHAMPTON — Chelsea Moussette and Katy O’Connor featured heavily in the Wahconah girls basketball scouting report.
The Warriors planned to not let the Raiders’ dual 1,000-point scorers beat them in Thursday’s Western Massachusetts Division 3 quarterfinal.
Instead, they tried to get the ball out of the two stars’ hands and force Hampshire’s other players to deliver.
“We were worried about Chelsea and about Katy, and the major game plan was to slow them down and make somebody else beat us,” Wahconah coach Liz Kay said. “To their credit, they certainly did. They had other kids hit big shots, and some of them I couldn’t tell you what their names are.”
Katelyn Pickunka introduced herself with 12 points, and Hampshire prevailed 64-49 to reach the semifinals.
The third-seeded Raiders will face No. 2 Hoosac Valley, which beat No. 7 Granby 59-51.
Hampshire (19-4) led by double digits for the entirety of the second half.
Wahconah (13-8) pulled closest when Emmy Cote, who finished with a team-high 18 points, hit a 3 to cut the Raiders’ lead to 44-34 with 1 minute, 10 seconds left in the third quarter.
Moussette crossed up her defender on Hampshire’s next possession and canned an off-the-dribble 3 to push the Raiders’ lead back to 13.
“Our defense was really solid tonight, and that’s what helped us keep our lead spread out,” Moussette said.
She finished with a game-high 20 points and added eight assists and seven steals.
The Warriors did a better job of holding O’Connor in check.
She still finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds, but only made three field goals.
O’Connor averaged 23.5 points per game during the regular season.
“She takes a lot of contact as a big man and doesn’t get many calls, but she always plays hard,” Hampshire coach Amy Cyr said.
O’Connor played the last 2:52 of the third quarter with only one of her contact lenses.
She lost it after contact, found it on the floor and gave it to an assistant coach saying, “I can play without it.”
A friend from the stands used their phone as a mirror to help O’Connor reinsert it between the third and fourth quarters.
Hampshire began the third quarter on a 6-0 run made of two Pickunka baskets and a Moussette steal then score.
Pickunka scored eight of her 12 points in the third quarter trying to shoulder some of O’Connor’s scoring burden.
“She was being double teamed most of the time, and I felt as the 4 and other big player I needed to step up and score more,” Pickunka said.
The Raiders’ defensive pressure built them a 32-22 halftime lead.
They outscored the Warriors 17-7 in that quarter and didn’t allow a field goal until there were 5 seconds showing on the clock.
“Toward the second quarter we were playing a lot harder defense. The defense kept our momentum going,” Moussette said. “We had to keep that going throughout the whole game.”
Both teams struggled to score in the first quarter.
Wahconah’s Lily Pudlo put the game’s first points on the board with 6:02 remaining in the first quarter, and Nicole Buzzee, who finished with 10 points, scored Hampshire’s first basket 32 seconds later.
The Warriors and Raiders were tied at 15 after eight minutes before Hampshire increased its pressure and started to pull away.
“That’s what they do,” Kay said. “They can put points on the board, the problem was that we really couldn’t after the first quarter.”
Hampshire now turns its attention to the Curry Hicks Cage and defending champion Hoosac Valley.
The two teams didn’t play each other this season and haven’t matched up since the first round of the 2013 playoffs.
“We couldn’t be more excited to get to the Cage,” Moussette said.
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com.
Hampshire Regional 64, Wahconah 49
Warriors (13-8)
McMahon 0-0-0, Brennan 0-0-0, Zink 2-1-6, McIlquham 4-2-10, Cote 5-5-18, Puello 2-2-6, Dougherty 1-4-6, Gagliardi 0-0-0, O’Connor 1-1-3, Gamberoni 0-0-0. Totals: 15-15-49.
Raiders (19-4)
Moussette 7-5-20, Turgeon 1-0-3, Buzzee 4-0-10, Pickunka 5-2-12, Abel 1-0-3, Labrecque 1-0-3, Goodnwo 0-0-0, Dearborn 0-0-0, C. O’Connor 1-0-2, K. O’Connor 3-4-11, West 0-0-0, S. Aldrich 0-0-0, O. Aldrich 0-0-0. Totals: 23-11-64.
Wahconah 15 7 12 15—49
Hampshire 15 17 18 14—64
3-pointers: Wahconah 4 (Cote 3, Zink), 7 (Moussette, Turgeon, Buzzee 2, Abel, Labrecque, K. O’Connor)