Conyers, Gamberoni Named Berkshire County MVPs
Taconic sophomore Ciany Conyers and Wahconah junior Maria Gamberoni were named co-Most Valuable Players of the Berkshire County League in a vote of the league’s coaches on Wednesday.
The coaches got together for a virtual season-ending meeting to name their all-league teams for 2019-20 and decide on a realignment for the 2020-21 season.
Conyers, who led Taconic to the first state championship in the program’s history, averaged 13.6 points and 2.5 assists per game.
Taconic rolled through the regular season with a record of 18-2 and won five straight, ending with a thrilling 48-46 win over Central Massachusetts champion Medway in the Division 2 state semi-finals.
That run was ended not by another team, but by the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association to cancel state finals in basketball and hockey. Taconic ended up sharing the title with Foxboro.
Conyers shares the league MVP nod with Gamberoni, who scored a team-high 14.8 points per game and was a cornerstone of a Wahconah defense that held opponents to 33 points per game in going 18-5 with a berth in the Western Mass D3 final.
Gamberoni scored 13 points on Feb. 8, the night when Wahconah handed Taconic it’s only loss from a Western Mass opponent all winter.
She is joined on the all-Berkshire County team by Wahconah teammate Noelle Furlong.
Conyers is joined on the all-league squad by teammates Taea Bramer and Ahliya Phillips.
The all-Berkshire team is rounded out by Pittsfield’s Alexi Sondrini and three members of the co-Division 3 State Champion Hoosac Valley Hurricanes: Riley Robinson, Sarah Field and Shaleigh Levesque.
Two more Hoosac Valley players were named to the all-Berkshire County North Division team. Averie McGrath and Gabby Billetz earned that honor, along with: Wahconah’s Morgan Marauszwski and Jilly Cote; Taconic’s Faith Cross, Kendra Buda and Tamia Patrick; Pittsfield’s Jordyn Lummus and Emery Sime; and Monument Mountain’s Maya Cooney.
The all-South Division team includes: Lenox’s Sophie Patella and Jade Alward; Drury’s Alison Felix and Kayla McGrath; Lee’s Emma Puleri, Lydia Simone and Caroline Maloney; Mount Everett’s Madeline Von Ruden and Ashley Atwood; and Mount Greylock’s Madison Ross and Delaney Babcock.
The Berkshire County League’s two divisions will have a new look next winter as Monument Mountain moves from the North to the South.
The Spartans will compete in a six-team division with Drury, Lee, Lenox, Mount Everett and Mount Greylock.
Hoosac Valley, Pittsfield, Taconic and Wahconah will remain in a now four-team North Division.
Each team will play two games against each opponent within its division and one crossover game against a team from the other division.
That means 14 league games for teams in the South and 12 league games for each team in the North, opening up one more spot on the schedule for an independent game for the four North Division teams, who played 13 league games in 2019-20.