Levesque, McGuire Earn Athlete of the Week Recognition

This week's iBerkshires.com/Southwestern Vermont Medical Center Athletes of the Week helped their teams to statement wins that show each will be tough out in the Western Mass basketball tournaments that get underway next month.

 

Scott McGuire Jr., not content to set one school scoring record on Wednesday night, set two Drury High records in the same game.

 

He went into the night against Monument Mountain needing 20 points to become the school's all-time leading scorer, breaking a mark set by his former teammate, 2019 grad Reece Racette.

 

McGuire eclipsed that mark in the first quarter, then went on to score 32 more points and set the school's single-game scoring record with 52.

 

And Drury needed all that offense to survive a challenge from the game Spartans, prevailing, 90-87.

 

“I wasn’t really thinking about the record.” McGuire said afterward. "My teammates were getting me the ball and I was hitting my shots. My team just kept feeding me the ball and it gave us a push.”

 

Two nights later against arch-rival Hoosac Valley, McGuire scored 27 to help Drury earn a 57-49 win over the resurgent Hurricanes and stay in third place in the Berkshire County North Division.

 

The reigning Division 3 state champion Hoosac Valley girls went into the week in the unusual position of needing to get some wins.

 

Hoosac already had one loss in the Berkshire County North and was coming off a dreadful performance in the HoopHall Classic at Springfield College the previous Friday. Ahead loomed two more Berkshire North tests and Division 1 Minnechaug in an independent game.

 

Tri-captain Shaleigh Levesque helped the Hurricanes pass all three tests with flying colors.

 

After suffocating Pittsfield in a win on Monday night, the Hurricanes came back three days later to outlast Wahconah for a three-point win on the road.

 

In Dalton, Levesque scored a team-high 15 points and hit a big buzzer-beating 3 to punctuate a 19-point first quarter.

 

Saturday against Chaug, Levesque had seven rebounds and three assists in the first half to help set the tone. She ended up with 10 boards against the Falcons and was a big factor in Hoosac's ability to limit the damage from Minnechaug's full-court press.

 

"I thought different kids stepped up at different points of the game," Hoosac Valley coach Ron Wojcik said. "All five starters -- Riley [Robinson] did at one point, Levesque did at one point, Gabby [Billetz] did with some big plays. I couldn't be prouder of them."

 

The iBerkshires.com Athlete of the Week is sponsored by Southwestern Vermont Medical Center.