Division 1 girls basketball: Yamaya Perez strikes for 35 as Holyoke knocks off Westfield in quarterfinals

WESTFIELD — Yamaya Perez was ready for her first Western Massachusetts Tournament game as soon as she stepped off the bus.

The Holyoke High School sophomore erupted for 25 points in the first half as the Purple Knights built a double-digit lead on Westfield in the Division 1 quarterfinal round.

“As soon as I walked in the gym I started feeling it,” Perez said. “I was just hyped on the bus and I brought it the gym. I just felt it in the beginning.”

The fourth-seeded Bombers rallied in the third quarter, but Perez and the fifth-seeded Purple Knights put a stop to the comeback in the fourth, closing out a 69-63 victory, Thursday night.

Holyoke (11-10) will play top-seeded Central (12-7) at Western New England University next week in the semifinals.

It was Holyoke’s first playoff game since 2017.

“We kept out heads,” Perez said. “We really wanted this. We haven’t been to the playoffs in a really long time and we really wanted this. We just hyped each other up.”

Perez and freshmen guards Ashley Vazquez and Bianca Ortiz played like veterans. Holyoke built a 40-20 halftime lead thanks to Perez and her five first-half 3-pointers.

Behind a suffocating press, Westfield stormed back in the third and trailed 53-48 entering the fourth. But the Purple Knights didn’t panic. They kept their composure despite their youth. A timeout nearly four minutes into the third steadied the team.

“It was a great first half and we were excited,” Holyoke coach Andrea Enright said. “But at halftime we know they are getting fired up, we know they had Chandler (Pedolzky) on the bench in fouls. (Westfield) survived and were ready to go. They brought it to us in the third.”

Perez stole the ball on Westfield’s first possession of the fourth and found Ortiz for a jumper. That started a 7-0 run that pushed the lead to 60-48 and forced Westfield coach Dylan Willey to call a timeout.

“I think our halftime talk I got them too focused on the clock,” Enright said. “We talked about using the clock and I think they were looking at it too much instead of just playing basketball. Once we settled down in the fourth quarter we went back to just playing basketball.”

Westfield cut the deficit to four with under a minute left, but Vazquez, Perez and Ortiz each made foul shots to hold off the Bombers.

Perez finished with 35 points. Vazquez had 18, including seven in the third quarter. Ortiz had four of her eight in the fourth quarter.

Westfield had a height advantage, but Holyoke used its speed and ball handling on the perimeter to space the floor, penetrate and find shooters.

Nobody shot the ball as well as Perez, who buried 3s as far behind the line as 5 feet.

“I felt like it was just another game for me,” Perez said. “I didn’t think (about the) playoffs, I didn’t want the tension on me. I just played through and let my team know it was just another game for us. We just pulled through.”

Olivia Hadla finished with 28 points and Kaela Mochak had 18 for Westfield.

Holyoke 69, Westfield 63

Holyoke (11-10)

Glasheen 0-0-0, Calderon 0-1-1, Alicia 0-0-0, Perez 10-9-35, Morales 0-0-0, Ryan 2-3-7, Ortiz 3-2-8, Vazquez 5-7-18. Totals: 20-22-69

Westfield (11-10)

E. Pedolzky 2-3-8, Hadla 9-7-28, Smith 1-0-3, C. Pedolzky 1-1-3, Mochak 8-2-18, Kaubris 1-0-3. Totals: 22-13-63

3-Pointers—Holyoke 7 (Perez 6, Vazquez) Westfield 6 (Hadla 3, E. Pedolzky, Smith, Kaubris)