WMass Division 2 girls basketball: Amherst falls in quarterfinals to East Longmeadow, 63-29

EAST LONGMEADOW — The sixth-seeded Amherst Regional girls basketball team stood with No. 3 East Longmeadow early, but the Spartans pulled away for a 63-29 victory, Thursday in the Western Massachusetts Division 2 Tournament quarterfinals.

The Hurricanes led by five, but eight straight points from East Longmeadow’s Nicole Coolidge gave the Spartans a three-point edge. Amherst coach Dustin James called a timeout with 1 minute, 29 seconds left in the first quarter to regroup and in the final seconds, Erin Klaes threw up a 3-pointer to tie the game at 8-8.

“The first quarter we really got in the passing lanes, we got a lot of steals in the first quarter and they really came out ready to play with those steals,” James said.

In the second quarter, the Spartans outscored Amherst 18-6 to take 26-14 lead at halftime.

“I think we lost track in who we really wanted to shut down and some pivotal moments,” James said.

East Longmeadow opened the second half on a 14-0 run to hold a 28-point lead over the Hurricanes. A layup from Petua Mukimba ended a 4:22 scoring drought for Amherst.

Mukimba, Maddie Shea and Klaes each had nine points for the Hurricanes.

“In the third quarter we came out hot. Meg Sharon hit some 3s and then we just kept up our defensive intensity,” Spartan coach Billy Reed said. “That’s one thing we preached about was playing defense and trying to rebound and I thought we did a good job.”

Sharon finished with 26 points while Coolidge had 16.

“(The game plan was to) really just try and do our best to try and shut down Coolidge and Sharon tonight and be active in the defensive end and come out strong in the start,” James said.

A layup and a foul shot from Mukimba made the Hurricanes bench erupt with 6:08 left in the fourth and forced an East Longmeadow timeout.

“We talked about giving maximum effort, playing with a lot of heart and passion and that showed tonight,” Reed said. “I will give a lot of credit to Amherst, they gave an excellent effort as well.”

East Longmeadow (14-7) will play No. 2 Tantasqua (18-3), Tuesday at 4:45 p.m. in the semifinals at Western New England.

Amherst finished its season 8-13. The Hurricanes, who do not have one senior on the team, reached the tournament for the first time since 2012.

“We have a young committed group and I know for sure we will be back in this position again,” James said.

East Longmeadow 63,
Amherst Regional 29

Amherst (8-13)

Klaes 2-4-9, Nolan 0-0-0, Yath 0-0-0, Shea 2-4-9, Bumgardner 0-0-0, Peters 0-0-0, Layer 0-2-2, Mukimba 3-3-9. Totals 7-13-29

East Longmeadow (14-7)

Dieni 1-0-2, S. Lafaro 2-0-4, Whitehead 3-0-7, Maurer 1-0-2, Coolidge 6-0-16, Dalessio 2-0-4, Sharon 11-0-26, Kelley 1-0-2. Totals 27-0-63

3-Pointers—East Longmeadow 9 (Sharon 4, Coolidge 4, Whitehead) Amherst 2 (Klaes, Shea)