HOLYOKE – When No. 41 Minnechaug pulled back from a 16-point deficit to within three points of No. 24 Holyoke on Monday, it looked like the Falcons might have a shot at springing an upset.
But it was going to take more than that to rattle the Purple Knights, especially in their home gym.
The duo of Amilyan Treadwell-Mercedes and Bianca Ortiz Cordero were lights out for the Purple Knights, combining for 51 points as Holyoke roared back to a 75-52 victory in the MIAA Division 2 preliminary round.
Ortiz Cordero led the way with 27 points while Treadwell-Mercedes put up 24. Holyoke’s win sent it to the Round of 32, where the Knights (13-8) will play at No. 9 Norwood (13-7) on Thursday at 6 p.m.
As much as Treadwell-Mercedes and Ortiz Cordero dominated the scoreboard, Monday’s win was very much a team effort for the Purple Knights, which rotated in their bench players regularly and moved the ball around the floor with confidence for most of the contest.
“I loved the ball movement tonight. I’ve said that to them so many times – we’re not a good basketball team when the ball doesn’t move. We’re a very good basketball team when the ball does,” Holyoke head coach Andrea Enright said. “So I was very happy to see the ball moving tonight.”
Ortiz Cordero and Treadwell-Mercedes covered all of Holyoke’s bases when it came to knocking down baskets. Ortiz Cordero took care of the perimeter, knocking down a triple and hitting floaters and fast break layups every chance she got. Treadwell-Mercedes dominated the paint, hauling in rebounds and throwing them back up for a sure-thing layup every time the Purple Knights missed their initial shot.
“It’s great (playing with Treadwell-Mercedes),” Ortiz Cordero said. “Being a point guard and having a strong big that puts up our baskets and our missing shots is really helpful for us.”
Holyoke had already bested Minnechaug once, earning a 67-46 win during the regular season. But in that game, Minnechaug was missing leading scorer Jayla Comes, and the Purple Knights knew that they wouldn’t be the same team from the beginning of the season.
“We talked about how we can’t come into the game thinking that we’re going to beat a team that we already beat,” Treadwell-Mercedes said. “We gotta go in humble.”
The early going was all Holyoke – Minnechaug struggled to get its offense going and the home team sprinted out to an 18-2 lead. But the Falcons weren’t going to go away that easily – over the last 2:10 of the period, Minnechaug outscored the Purple Knights 14-3 to make it a 21-16 game at the end of the first. Comes hit the first shot of the second frame to pull the visitors within three points and put Holyoke on its guard.
“We can’t get too comfortable. We had to do a little bit of adjustments – communicating on screens, I think that hurt us a little bit,” Enright said. “But we cleaned it up, we played much better defense.”
Holyoke stopped giving Minnechaug clean lanes to the basket and made it work for every point it got as the second quarter went on. The hosts went on two different 7-0 runs during the second period and took a 40-29 lead going into halftime.
Comes made a couple clutch shots in the third to keep Minnechaug within striking distance, but the Purple Knights’ offense overwhelmed the Falcons for the rest of the game.
It was an especially exciting win for Victoria D’Amico, who played some valuable minutes for the Purple Knights on her birthday, finishing with six points. The team sang to her after the game to celebrate, but the victory was the best gift she could have received.
“When I asked her what she wanted, she said I just want to win, so now I’m off the hook,” Enright joked. “She did a really nice job of getting on the boards and a couple of baskets as well.”