WESTHAMPTON – It may take a few hours – or even a few days – for everybody’s heart rate to return to normal after Thursday night’s girls basketball game between Hampshire and Ludlow.
Ludlow jumped out to an early lead that carried into halftime, where the Raiders entered their locker room trailing 16-11. But the determined home team fought back, opening the third quarter with an 9-0 run to take the lead away and head into the final quarter with a four-point advantage.
It was a tight, back and forth contest that seemed like it could be anyone’s game. Regulation ended with both teams tied at 30 points apiece. Then the first four-minute overtime ended with both teams tied up again at 39 points. By double overtime, you could cut the tension in the gym with a knife – both teams wanted to win this one, and they wanted it badly.
But ultimately, a few questionable calls and some disconnected offensive plays were too much ground for the Raiders to make up, as Ludlow captured a 49-41 win. It was a heartbreaking loss for Hampshire, which finally returned home after playing six consecutive games on the road only to fall in the final minutes of double OT.
“We just told them we need to keep working hard. You’ve got to look at all the positive things that we did throughout the game,” Hampshire head coach Dan Labrie said after the game. “We know it’s a building year, and to have the experience of two overtimes is a good thing, although the end result wasn’t what we hoped.”
Hampshire (3-10) did have moments where it shone on the court – its full court press, which was employed starting in the second period, was effective against Ludlow (2-12), though Labrie noted that their opponent seemed to figure it out the more the game progressed. Ludlow was able to out-rebound the home squad for the most part while also racking up points from the free throw line, something that Hampshire struggled with all night long; the Raiders finished the contest going just 3-for-16 from the chairty stripe.
“They were hitting theirs, and we weren’t hitting ours,” Labrie said on his team’s free throw shooting. “So guess what we’re going to be doing on Sunday (at practice)?”
Ludlow’s game plan centered around keeping Emma Czarniecki, the Raiders’ best shooter, off the board, and it paid off – she finished the contest with just six points (though she did knock down every one of Hampshire’s successful free throws). In her absence, the team relied heavily on their other Emma, Emma Allyn, who led the way with 13 points.
It was a group effort from the Raiders, who had moments in the game where it really seemed like they had the momentum – their start of the second half, for example where they came out firing on all cylinders. That was thanks in large part to the play of Destiny Saltis, who came out and provided the Raiders with the strong rebounding support they needed in the post, a feat made all the more impressive knowing that she’d played a full JV game before turning up and playing the varsity contest right after.
“She’s got great hands. She’s great at grabbing the ball and controlling it. We were looking for footwork, somebody that was gonna move her feet more than reach on defense,” Labrie said. “And she stepped up, she had a good game.”
That play gave the Raiders the spark they needed, but Ludlow wasn’t going to go down without a fight. Hampshire did well to get the game to overtime – with the score knotted at 30, the Raiders got a critical interception on an in-bounding play with six seconds remaining, not allowing the Lions to get any shot at walking away with a regulation win.
Labrie said he hopes his team will learn from Thursday’s game, and use it to better their play – this is a team with nowhere to go but up, and they’ll look to take the lessons from the loss and implement them in their future games.