NORTHAMPTON — Holyoke’s comeback suffocated right before it broke the surface.
The Northampton girls basketball team held a three-point lead over the Purple Knights in Friday’s Western Massachusetts Division 1 quarterfinal with 5 minutes, 21 seconds remaining. No. 5 Holyoke’s side of the scoreboard showed 37. Northampton coach Perry Messer called a timeout with Holyoke’s Natacha Hernandez-Santiago at the free-throw line.
“I know one thing, our defense is going to win this game for us,” he said he told the team.
It did.
Holyoke still had 37 points five minutes later, as No. 4 Northampton went on a 16-0 run over that five-minute stretch to wrest control back.
“Defense was made a priority,” Northampton senior Lauraine Joensen said.
The Blue Devils had put the game away by that point and ultimately won 53-43 to get back to the semifinals for the first time since 2014.
Hamp (15-6) face No. 1 Central (18-3) for the third time this season at 7:45 p.m. Tuesday at Western New England.
Northampton’s closing run reached a crescendo with 3:23 left. Joensen, who led the team with 17 points, missed a jump shot long. The rebound bounced around before Northampton senior Hannalise Rivera-Lovett dove to the floor and snatched it. She found Anna Kerwood, who passed the ball to Joensen for a layup and a 49-37 lead.
“Hannalise is awesome,” Joensen said. “She goes for the ball no matter what.”
Joensen also hit a 3 with 6:02 left to stretch a three-point lead to 43-37. It was as close as Holyoke got the rest of the night after shaving down a double-digit lead.
Senior Callie Cavanaugh powered every bit of the run to bring it to single digits. She scored 30 points in her final high school game and 15 of Holyoke’s 19 points in the first half.
“I think I gave it my all,” she said. “I put in all the work I could with my last game.”
She staked Holyoke to an 18-17 lead in the second quarter, but Megan McCarthy (nine points) regained a 19-18 lead with 2:57 left after a layup. Amber Lempke tied the game at 19 for the Purple Knights (13-9) with a free throw a minute later.
Northampton freshman Amanda Mieczkowski broke that tie with a 3-pointer with 1:49 to halftime, sparking a 7-0 run to end the first half that reached 9-0 in the third quarter. She tied her career high with 16 points.
“My coaches all along the season have been telling me to be more aggressive,” Mieczkowski said.
Northampton never relinquished its lead after Mieczkowski’s 3, setting up the showdown with Central. The Golden Eagles won the team’s two previous matchups and beat No. 9 West Springfield 83-26 in the quarterfinals.
“We’re going up to win that game,” Messer said. “We’re not going for any moral victories.”
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com.
Northampton 53, Holyoke 43
Holyoke (14-8)
Hernandez 5-2-12, Lempke 0-1-1, Cavanaugh 13-4-30. Totals 18-7-43
Northampton (15-6)
McCarthy 3-3-9, Mieczkowski 6-3-16, Tanner 2-0-4, Kesin 0-0-0, Kerwood 1-1-3, Rivera-Lovett 0-4-4, Joensen 8-0-17, Jones 0-0-0, Campedelli 0-0-0, Maurer 0-0-0. Totals 20-11-53
|
Holyoke |
13 |
6 |
12 |
12 |
—43 |
|
Northampton |
13 |
13 |
10 |
17 |
—53 |
3-Pointers—Holyoke 0, Northampton 2 (Mieczkowski, Joensen)