SOUTH HADLEY — Last season, the South Hadley girls basketball team was on the wrong end of an upset in tournament play when Mount Greylock sent the then-top seeded Tigers home early.
The Mounties visited the Tigers again in the Western Massachusetts Division 3 Tournament quarterfinals Friday night.
The No. 2 Tigers took care of business this team around, beating the No. 7 Mounties 55-39 to advance.
South Hadley (21-0) will play No. 3 Hampshire Regional (18-4) at 7 p.m. Thursday at UMass’ Curry Hicks Cage. The Raiders beat Sabis 71-52 in the quarterfinals on Friday.
The preparation for the Mounties this time around was intense for the Tigers.
“We spent a lot more time looking though their plays and scouting them,” South Hadley senior Sophie Gatzounas said. “We broke down every single one of their players. We looked at everything we could do to stop them from scoring points.”
A slow start in the first quarter doomed Mount Greylock, which played from behind the entire game.
“We put together a better game for 32 minutes last year,” Greylock coach John Jacobbe said. “This year we came out slow.”
The Tigers had a 23-9 lead after one with Gatzounas attacked the rim from the very beginning.
“Every game she (Gatzounas) sees special defenses,” Jacobbe said. “She plays right through it.”
The Navy commit finished with 21 points and went 7-for-7 from the free-throw line.
“Last year was 100 percent mental,” Gatzounas said. “We didn’t take them lightly last year but we came in with a much more cautious mindset this season knowing anything can happen.”
In the second and third quarters, with South Hadley’s offense sputtering, the defense picked up the intensity to help maintain the lead.
The defense by Abby Edge, Mikhalia Edge and Marley Medina throughout the game helped keep the Mounties from getting close.
“They took last year to heart,” South Hadley coach Paul Dubuc said. “They love playing for each other. They are never easy.”
Medina (eight points) made things difficult for Greylock center Jenna Benzinger (16 points). Lauren Howard added eight points for Greylock.
“Our defense was ridiculous tonight,” Gatzounas said. “Marley played out of her mind. We kept them out of the paint and pressed the crap out of them.”
Mia Kelly had nine points, including a late 3-pointer that gave South Hadley a 47-35 lead with under 4 minutes to play.
Greylock trailed 33-24 entering the fourth quarter, but Alexa Blaney (six points) and Medina scored the first four points to get South Hadley’s crowd back into the game and get the lead back to a comfortable 37-25.
South Hadley 55,
Mount Greylock 39
Mount Greylock (15-7)
Albert 2-1-5, Stripp 2-0-4, Howard 3-0-8, Benzinger 6-4-16, Masse 2-0-4, Sheedy 0-0-0, Ross 1-0-2 Locklear 0-0-0 Totals 16-5-39
South Hadley (21-0)
Abby Edge 2-1-5, Mikhalia Edge 3-0-6, Kelly 2-4-9, Gatzounas 7-7-21, Medina 3-1-8, Alexa Blaney 3-0-6, Olivia Blaney 0-0-0, Grochowalski 0-0-0, Spears 0-0-0, Ippolito 0-0-0, Murphy 0-0-0 Totals 20-14-55
|
Mount Greylock |
9 |
7 |
8 |
15 |
—39 |
|
South Hadley |
23 |
6 |
4 |
22 |
—55 |
3-pointers:Greylock 2 (Howard 2); South Hadley 2 (Medina, Kelly)
