GREENFIELD — Hampshire Regional did everything it could to frustrate Greenfield’s three main offensive weapons during Friday night’s Western Massachusetts Division 3 quarterfinal.
Unfortunately for the fifth-seeded Raiders, Greenfield matched that intensity on its defensive end and turned that defense into offense early on to open up a lead it never relinquished en route to a 60-33 girls basketball victory at Nichols Gymnasium.
The victory sends the No. 4 Green Wave (18-3) back to Curry Hicks Cage for the semifinals. The Wave were denied a chance to play for the championship last year by none other than Hampshire, which ousted the Green Wave in overtime and went on to win the tournament and finish as state runners-up.
Green Wave senior center Samantha Smith said that getting a chance to return to the Cage and take another run at a title is exactly what the team was looking for.
“It’s the best feeling,” Smith said. “Senior year, you just want to go all the way in every sport. You take it one step at a time, though, and the Cage is the next step.”
Hampshire threw everything it could at the Green Wave offense early as it tried to limit Smith, who had a size advantage over the Raiders. Hampshire coach Amy Cyr had her team face-guarding and double-teaming the Wave’s leading scorer, and it was effective in taking Smith out of the game, which seemed to hinder the Wave’s offense.
The Raiders had momentum early and led 4-1 until the midway point of the first quarter. Greenfield tied the game on free throws, but didn’t score its first field goal of the game until a Raegan Hickey 3-pointer with 1 minute, 36 seconds to play in the frame. That opened the flood gates a bit in the final 90 seconds, as Racquel Provost followed with a 3-pointer with 15 seconds left, and Olivia Joy scored on a layup with 5 seconds left to open a 12-4 lead after one quarter.
While the Greenfield offense was beginning to get going after the slow start, the Hampshire offense had a power-outage after the first two minutes. After Maddie Pond scored with 5:27 to play in the first quarter to give Hampshire the 4-1 lead, the Raiders did not score again for the remainder of the first quarter. The team went nearly seven minutes without a point as Greenfield went on a 15-0 run that ended when Delaney Marek hit a free throw with 6:31 left in the second quarter. The biggest reason for the struggles was a Green Wave defense that was matching Hampshire’s defensive intensity and caused the Raiders to continually turn the ball over.
“Turnovers have been an Achilles’ heel of ours all season and when things are going well offensively, defensively we are mentally tough, but when we turn the ball over, we tend to build frustrations and lose that momentum we really need,” Cyr said. “We need to work on consistency.”
Hampshire was able to hang around for much of the first half and went into the locker room down 29-15, but the Green Wave continued to pull away in the third quarter as they outscored the Raiders 16-9 to increase the lead to 21 heading into the fourth.
Hampshire never got closer than that and both teams emptied their benches late.
Pond led Hampshire with 10 points, and Marek finished with eight. The Raiders started four sophomores and one senior, so the future remains bright in Westhampton. It was the last game for senior Kyleen Labrecque.
“I think for some of them it was a difficult year, because last year was such a journey,” Cyr said. “But I keep reminding them that we are still on that journey, and all these experiences are building to where we are going to be. The future looks good.”
Greenfield 60, Hampshire 33
Hampshire (10-11)
Labrie 1-0-2, Pellegrini 1-0-2, Taylor 0-2-2, Rubeck 2-0-5, Labrecque 2-0-4, Pond 3-3-10, Marek 3-2-8. Totals 12-7-33.
Greenfield (18-3)
Rivera 2-0-5, Provost 3-1-9, Haselton 2-8-12, Hickey 3-8-15, Joy 1-0-2, Reed 2-0-4, Smith 5-3-13. Totals: 28-13–60.
|
Hampshire |
4 |
11 |
9 |
9 |
—33 |
|
Greenfield |
12 |
17 |
16 |
15 |
—60 |
3-Pointers—Hampshire 2 (Pond, Rubeck)