WESTFIELD – The first time South Hadley girls basketball team played Wahconah this year was a 63-28 blowout loss that didn’t showcase the Tigers’ signature style of basketball – they don’t really count that game.
The second time they played was a barn-burner for the ages, a heart-breaking 54-52 loss in their own gym that stung a lot more.
It seemed like fate that the two should meet again in the Western Mass. Class B Western Mass Finals – a chance for South Hadley to get revenge at long last.
But the third time was not the charm for the Tigers, who fell 56-33 to Wahconah on Saturday night at Westfield High School, earning a bittersweet runner-up title instead of the championship they were chasing down.
“Believe me, they’re not satisfied with the results,” South Hadley head coach Paul Dubuc said. “They are competitors. They didn’t come here to come in second.”
On paper, this seemed like a game that the Tigers were primed to win. The Warriors were without one of their stars, Grace Wiggington, who was out with an injury, and the Tigers were finally healthy again after a couple of weeks of battling the flu; Drew Alley was back just in time for the Tigers after missing both the quarter and semifinals.
But even without Wigington, Wahconah had plenty of stars to step up in their absence. Four of the Warriors’ players hit double-digits in points, led by Oliva Gamberoni who finished with 17 points. There’s no doubt that Gamberoni was of the best players on the court for the Warriors, where South Hadley struggled a lot was rebounding, dealing with screens, and the physical play in the paint; Waconah’s Olivia Mason and Ella Quinto especially held a height advantage and played with a physicality that the Tigers couldn’t match on Saturday.
On the other end of the court, South Hadley struggled hitting its shots. The Tigers relied heavily on Olivia Marion, who finished with 15 points; the next best scorer was Talia Uribe, who earned seven points. But where the Warriors really beat the Tigers was defensively – while South Hadley surely would have liked to shoot better, Wahconah forced turnover after turnover all night long, breaking up passes and not letting the Tigers get comfortable after the first quarter.
“They’re really fast. They’re really good. They can read everything – they know before we’re gonna make the passes where they’re gonna go,” Uribe said. “They’re really good at basketball, and when they’re a good basketball team, it’s hard to beat them.”
At first, it looked like the game was South Hadley’s to lose. The Tigers came out with energy in the first quarter, and Wahconah’s offense looked tentative and unsure. Kacie Levrault got South Hadley on the board first, sinking two free throws to make it 2-0, and the Tigers kept that lead through the entirety of the first quarter. With a minute to go, they were up 7-3, and then Wahconah broke the game wide open. Eva Eberwein heaved a Hail Mary 3-pointer with the shot clock expiring that went in for the Warriors, and though Cianna Gurek answered back with a triple of her own with 15 seconds on the clock, Gamberoni sank another three with less than five minutes remaining. The Tigers held a slim one point lead after the first quarter, up 10-9 after all was said in done.
Wahconah opened the second quarter with a bucket from Emma Belcher to take the lead back, and they kept it for the remainder of the game. The Warriors’ offense found its groove in the second, knocking down 15 points and holding the Tigers to just four with their tenacious defense.
“We wanted to play better defense than we did, and we wanted to shoot better and we failed on both of them,” Dubuc said. “It wasn’t like we didn’t know what they were going to do, or who they had. They played great, and we played so-so.”
The Warriors never gave the Tigers a chance to catch back up. Wahconah kept its foot on the gas in the third, outscoring South Hadley 17-9 thanks to some sharp-shooting and out-muscling the Tigers in the paint. The Tigers opened the final frame with a 6-0 run to make it 29-41, but their late comeback effort fell flat; the Tigers were held off the scoreboard entirely in the final 3:39 of the game.
The Tigers will now turn their attention to the state tournament. South Hadley is ranked No. 8 in MIAA Division 4 bracket, earning a bye in the first round of the tournament. They’ll host either No. 25 Uxbridge or No. 40 Maimonides.
“In past years we didn’t really get that glory of having like another tournament to just go into right after (Western Mass.) so we’re definitely gonna keep working hard,” Uribe said.
What she really wants is another crack at No. 2 Wahconah. The way the bracket sits now, both teams wouldn’t cross paths until the Division 4 state finals – but it’s certainly possible that we see these two teams go head-to-head again this year.