H.S. basketball: Northampton girls use late surge to beat Pope Francis, 55-46

SPRINGFIELD — The Northampton girls basketball team put together a big fourth quarter to walk away with a 55-46 victory over Pope Francis on Friday night.

Heading into the final eight minutes of play, the Blue Devils struggled to find consistency on offense, facing a 33-32 deficit. As the close game came down to the wire, the team flipped a switch, taking a big lead and holding on for the win.

Cleaning up the offensive mistakes helped Northampton pull away, being more patient in the fourth and working through pressure. The quality of shots in the final frame was much improved for the Blue Devils, with fewer turnovers as well.

“After that third quarter, I said, ‘You’ve got eight minutes to determine how you want your season to go,'” Northampton head coach Perry Messer said. “They turned it on, and that’s what they are capable of doing when they use their heads and play for each other. But they’ve got to do it for the full game, not just eight minutes of it.”

Outside of the first few minutes of the night, the Blue Devils dealt with a 2-3 zone on the offensive end. With active hands and quick feet on the defensive end, the Cardinals did well to keep the ball on the perimeter, forcing Northampton’s offense to be pretty one-dimensional.

Through the majority of Friday night’s contest, the Blue Devils rushed into bad shots early in the shot clock, not playing their game. The struggles allowed Pope Francis to stay in the game, even while having a rough night of its own on the other end.

“They’re making the game a lot harder on themselves than they need to,” Messer said of his players. “[The Cardinals] just played a simple zone against us tonight. Everybody’s looking for their own shot, and not looking for each other. If you’re gonna play selfish like that and not listen to the coaching and play as a team, you’re gonna struggle.”

Keira Cole was a bright spot for Northampton in the victory, putting together an impressive two-way performance at the point guard position. The freshman facilitated the Blue Devils’ offense, while moving her feet well to show out on the defensive end as well.

Even with her pass-first mindset as her team’s main playmaker, Cole knocked down some big shots over the course of the game. She finished the night with 13 points, making two 3-pointers and hitting three free throws, with two coming in the clutch as Northampton closed the game out.

“[Cole’s] getting better and better every game,” Messer said. “She’s had a lot of pressure on her to come in as a freshman and have to play in our league, night in and night out. It’s a dog fight. I think she’s gotten better. She’s got a lot thrown on her hands, and she keeps fighting and keeps learning.”

Holding a 10-point lead as time wound down, the Blue Devils dealt with an aggressive full-court press from Pope Francis. Despite their lead shrinking to six points, the group held on and locked in on defense, making some key stops down the stretch.

The Cardinals’ offensive struggles were mostly self-inflicted, with Messer unhappy with how frequently his team was fouling the opponent. In the third quarter alone, Northampton committed five more fouls than Pope Francis, putting players at the charity stripe and resetting shot clocks.

“We’re reaching in and fouling on stuff that we should just let go,” Messer said. “Let it come off the glass and go rebound. Instead, we slap them, and they go to the line and get freebies. You’ve got to have the intelligence to play it the right way. We’re not playing very intelligent right now.”

Emme Calkins led the Blue Devils in scoring on Friday night, tallying 18 points in the win. The junior made a trio of 3-pointers, while getting to the free throw line seven times and making each of her attempts.

Anna Oravec was close behind Calkins with 17 points of her own for Northampton. As the center of the set the Blue Devils were using to break the zone, the junior found success in the midrange and on drives to the rim.

With the win, Northampton improves to 11-6 on the season. The team will look to continue to clean things up down the stretch, with its next scheduled game coming against Chicopee Comp on Thursday, Feb. 12, at 7 p.m.

“Our guys just have to be smarter,” Messer said. “They know it. They’ve heard it from us before. It’s just a matter of us getting back to it. The basic group that we have here that’s playing; the majority of those guys made the Elite Eight and Final Four in their freshman and sophomore years. So they know what they’re capable of doing. Whether or not they want to do it, we’ll find out.”