H.S. basketball: Kalli White’s 23 points leads Granby girls past Amherst

GRANBY — The Granby girls basketball team dominated the second half in a 42-19 win over Amherst on Friday night.

Up by just five points as the second quarter came to an end, the Rams were searching for a way to increase their lead. The team went into the break and made adjustments defensively, which made offense for the Hurricanes extremely difficult.

In the first half, Granby was full-court pressing, trying to generate turnovers, but surrendering some easy buckets on the other end. The team decided to switch to a zone that made Amherst slow its pace down.

The change was wildly successful, with the Hurricanes only scoring one point across the third and fourth quarters. Although it wasn’t what they planned on doing before the game started, the Rams adjusted well, not missing a beat.

“These girls are so tough, and they do exactly as I ask them to do,” Granby head coach Dave Padavano said. “So I have no complaints with these girls. They’re a great bunch of girls to coach, they’re easy to coach, and they’re fun to be around.”

Offensively, the Rams had a huge game out of Kalli White, who finished with 23 out of the team’s 42 points in the win. The junior continuously got inside, finishing around the rim and earning 14 free-throw attempts.

White was aggressive all night long, crashing the offensive and defensive glass hard and creating scoring opportunities for her teammates. The aggressiveness did get her into a bit of foul trouble, but her impact on the game had already been made.

“[White] has what you can’t teach, and that’s a nose for the ball,” Padavano said. “And she’s got a quicker first step as anyone I’ve ever seen since Connie Hawkins… And every time there’s a loose ball or rebound, she’s on it.”

Granby was without one of its main scorers on Friday, with Brenna Moreno unable to play due to contracting the flu. White and the rest of the team were there to pick up the slack, putting together an impressive team win.

With White’s success at getting to the charity stripe, Amherst struggled with foul trouble throughout the night. With just eight players dressed on Friday, each foul meant more tired minutes and less lineup flexibility.

Despite this, the Hurricanes did their best to spread the ball around, showcasing a balanced approach offensively with an emphasis on shooting 3-pointers.

“The harder that we are to guard, the easier it’s going to be for our players,” Amherst head coach Billy Galipeau said. “When we just have one person who’s making shots, eventually the other team’s going to dial into that and make it tough for us the rest of the game. I try to stress, ‘If you’re open and it’s a shot that you practice, you have to shoot it.'”

Iman Skota led the Hurricanes in scoring on Friday night with 11 points, nine of which came from beyond the arc. Unfortunately for Amherst, the Rams’ zone defense was just too much to handle.

With the win over the Hurricanes, Granby improves to 4-1 on the season, with its next matchup on Wednesday, Jan. 7, at home against Mahar at 7 p.m.

The loss for Amherst is its second in a row, now sitting with a 4-2 record. The team will look to get back on track on Monday, January 5, on the road against Chicopee at 6 p.m.

“We were finding our shooters,” Galipeau said. “I think we took a lot of good shots, none of them went in. Definitely something that we’re gonna have to continue to work on.”