SOUTH HADLEY — For the first time since 2017, the South Hadley girls basketball team is headed back to the Western Massachusetts finals.
Wednesday’s Class B semifinal was a tight affair where the Tigers’ defense shined bright. That defensive effort enabled No. 2 South Hadley to walk away with a 49-43 victory over No. 6 Monument Mountain.
“Well, we wanted to play good defense, first and foremost, I thought we did. We were physical. One thing I wasn’t happy (with), I think we gave up too many second shots, which is uncharacteristic for us,” South Hadley coach Paul Dubuc said. “But we played great. Our defense in the first half was amazing, and we held a pretty good team to 43 points.”
South Hadley will meet No. 1 Wahconah in the Class B final on Saturday at Westfield High School. Tip-off is set for 5 p.m.
Monument Mountain went into the game looking to pull off another upset; the No. 6 seed knocked out No. 3 Easthampton in the quarterfinals earlier in the week. It looked like the Spartans may be poised to do that again Wednesday.
Despite trailing double digits at the start of the fourth quarter, the visitors pulled within three points midway through after a 10-3 run that made it seem like the Spartans might just be able to pull another upset out of the bag. With the score at 43-40 South Hadley, the Tigers desperately needed some space from Monument, and Marion and Levrault delivered. Marion scored with 1:45 that brought the bench and the crowd to their feet, and with 1:29 left, Levrault sank an and-one shot that all but tore the roof off the building to make it 47-40 South Hadley.
Despite Monument sinking a triple with 23 seconds to go, it was too little, too late for the Spartans.
Monument started the game strong. It hit two 3s early to jump out to a 6-2 lead while the Tigers struggled to find their footing.
“We didn’t really know much about Monument, so we’re kind of going in a little bit blind. But (we wanted to) come out with the same intensity that we always do and work hard,” South Hadley’s Kacie Levrault said. “It doesn’t matter who we’re playing, (we) just come out really hard.”
That intensity was most apparent in South Hadley’s defense. Its one-on-one coverage kept the Spartans on their toes, swiping at passes in the lanes and getting better as the game progressed. Some of the Tigers’ strongest defensive effort came in the second quarter, where the Tigers forced Monument to take a last-second shot on three consecutive possessions as the shot clock hit zero. Riding that defensive pressure, they built up an 18-11 lead and looked like they might make a break for it.
But the Spartans clawed their way back into the contest, ending the second quarter on a 5-0 run. As a result, the Tigers went into halftime with a slim two-point lead.
The key moment of the game came in the start of the third quarter, when the Tigers went on a 9-2 run to extend their lead to 29-18 and force a Monument timeout in an effort to slow momentum. Olivia Marion got things goings with a field goal to open the third that kick-started the run. South Hadley ran into a little adversity when Alex Jackson, one of its top players, fouled out with six minutes left in the third, but the rest of the Tigers stepped up in her absence.The Tigers led 34-24 heading into the final quarter, and looked like they had the game all locked up, though Monument fought them for every inch.
The Tigers can now turn their attention to Wahconah, a team that has given them some trouble this season already. The two teams have faced each other twice, the first a blowout 63-28 loss for South Hadley, the second a nail-biting 54-52 loss that looked all the world like a playoff game. The Tigers will now get their chance to replay that game, looking for a reversal of roles. The team is still looking for its first Western Mass. title in program history, and Levrault thinks that this team has the ability to end that drought.
“Everyone has worked so hard this year and I really do think we deserve it,” Levrault said on advancing to the finals. “And I think we deserve a win. I think we can get a win.”
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