Staff reports
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10:02PM / Monday, January 23, 2012


NORTH ADAMS, Mass — It's safe to say that the Hoosac Valley girls' basketball team has hit the meat of its schedule at the midway point of the season. 

With the Hurricanes smack dab in the middle of a stretch of seven straight games against North Division opponents, Ron Wojcik's club should be put to test over the next couple of weeks. Hoosac started its North Division slate on a strong note, earning three straight wins over Monument Mountain, Taconic and Wahconah. If the Hurricanes were going to keep their streak going, however, they were going to have to knock off their old rival Drury, which already beat them by 14 points in the first week of the season. 

Unfortunately for Hoosac, the rematch was far too similar to the first outing. Down by just six points at halftime, the Hurricanes were outscored 27-13 in the second half on their way to a 54-34 defeat at Bucky Bullett Gymnasium. Hoosac scored the same amount of points as it did in the first meeting, but allowed the Blue Devils six more points the second time around. 

"Drury did a good job defensively, but I was more disappointed with our defense more than anything else," Wojcik said. "I thought we were terrible defensively. You can have an off night offensively and stay in the game, but we certainly didn't do that. We tried to keep them on the perimeter early, and they hit some shots. We got up on them a little bit and did a good job in stretches, but for the most part, they pretty much had their way." 

With the 'Canes focused on slowing down junior point guard Danielle Racette early on, Drury (9-2) built a quick 10-0 lead by working the ball around on offense, finding the open shooter and knocking down shots. Sophomore guard Morgan Lamarre provided a big spark with her jump shooting in the first quarter, scoring six of her eight points in first eight minutes of play. 

"Morgan Lamarre is a good shooter, and so is Mariah Ferrara," Blue Devils head coach John Franzoni said. "We said to them that you need to set your feet and knock down shots. They've been kind of driving in and getting stuck inside, but we told them that if they're giving you open shots, you need to hit them. They stepped up with confidence tonight, and if teams want to double team Danielle, we have four other players on the court that can score.

"That's what it showed tonight, and I just thought it was just a great team effort. Offensively, I thought we got everyone involved early. They were double teaming Danielle early, but I thought she did a great job of finding the open player. I think it's a good sign of how deep our team is and how our young kids are getting some confidence. I think that's going to serve us well as we move toward the tournament." 

Down 14-5 after the first quarter, Hoosac (9-3) got its offense going in the second and picked up some much needed momentum heading into halftime. A 3-pointer by sophomore Jenn Gale (seven points) from the left corner cut the hosts' lead to 27-21 at the break, but the Devils quickly regained control by going on a 10-0 run to start the third quarter. 

"You can't get back in the game right before the half and then dig yourself a hole by giving them a 10-0 run to start the second half," Wojcik said. "I was disappointed with our effort. When I say it was our defense, It was everything. It was a lack of stopping penetration, which puts you in a help position. Now you're out of position, so then somebody helps and now you're out of position for a rebound."

With a little more room to roam, Racette started attacking the hoop more in the second half, scoring nine of her game-high 13 points after halftime. Her efforts put Drury up by 12 points after three quarters, and the Blue Devils put the game away with a 14-6 scoring edge in the fourth. Racette also came up with a team-high 10 rebounds and six assists, while junior forwards Ali Tatro and Shannon Garvey combined to score 15 points and grab 13 boards on the Drury frontline. 

Junior guard Tori Rumbolt scored a team-high nine points for the Hurricanes, who also got eight points out of freshman forward Emily Rosse.

Hoosac next hosts an undefeated Lee squad for 7:30 p.m. home game on Thursday. Drury, meanwhile, is off until next Wednesday, when they play at Lenox at 7 p.m.

CLICK HERE for more pictures from the game!