Hoosac Valley Holds off Drury Comeback Bid

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – After going to the locker room down by 12 points on Monday night, the Drury girls basketball team scored the first 10 points of the second half against Hoosac Valley to make a game of it with five minutes left in the third quarter.

 

But the Hurricanes doubled down on their defense, and the Blue Devils ran out of steam, scoring just six points the rest of the way in a 68-41 Hoosac Valley win.

 

Four different Hoosac Valley players scored 11 points apiece as the Hurricanes won their second straight and improved to 9-3 this winter.

 

Abby Scialabba (11 points) scored 7 in the first half, going five-for-six at the free throw line to help Hoosac Valley build a 36-24 lead.

 

But Drury stormed out of the locker room with five points and assist from Jacinta Felix (12 points) and a 3-pointer and an assist from Norah Wood (game-high 16) to make it 36-34.

 

After a Hoosac Valley timeout, Drury’s Eva Moser got to the foul line and converted one of two to get the Blue Devils within a point.

 

But Drury committed turnovers on its next three possessions, and it gave away the ball 11 more times in the fourth quarter as Hoosac Valley pulled away.

 

“Our game plan, if I’m being honest, was just don’t turn the ball over,” Drury coach Ian Downey said. “And to start the third quarter, we didn’t, and that’s what allowed us to get in the game.

 

“In the third quarter, we exerted a lot of energy to get back in the game. And ultimately, that gets you tired, and when you get tired, you make wrong decisions. And we started turning the ball over again. … The moral of the story is you just can’t get in that hole.”

 

Emma Meczywor, Haley McNeice and Taylor Garabedian joined Scialabba in team-high honors with 11 points for Hoosac Valley, which had seven players score at least seven points apiece.

 

“These girls all know, and we tell them all year, you can all score,” Hoosac Valley coach Jon Frederick said. “There are certain things we want you to do to make your shot a little easier. Maybe it’s a sidestep, maybe it’s a one dribble and a cut. Make your shot a little easier.

 

“We don’t all have to look for a layup, and we don’t all have to take a 3. I think you saw that today, like Hanna Shea (seven points) had a couple of little mid-range jumpers. Haley McNeice had one. I think Abby Scialabba had one. I know we’re 11 games in now, but they’re starting to actually let it come together.”

 

Early in the second quarter, Hoosac Valley took its biggest lead of the half with a 13-2 run.

 

Maryn Cappiello got it started with a pair of 3-pointers. Shea capped it with a shot at the elbow to put her team up, 29-10.

 

Drury’s Wood hit a 3-pointer to stop that run, and the Blue Devils cut into the deficit before half ended, getting a bucket by Wood just before the half to make it 36-24.

 

After closing the half with a 9-3 spurt, the Blue Devils carried that momentum into the second half with an 11-0 run.

 

“We knew [Drury was] going to come out with a boatload of energy,” Frederick said. “And they kind of did. I think we put a lot of energy into that first half and came out a little bit flat in the second.

 

“We turned the ball over, too, which I was hoping we wouldn’t do, but unfortunately we did. I don’t even know if we had a shot in [Drury’s] run. We came out a little flat, and we told the girls they had to match it. We weathered it, so that was good.”

 

Garabedian (11 points, 10 rebounds) hit a mid-range jumper to snap Drury’s run and make it a three-point margin.

 

Lesure then scored twice off turnovers to push the lead to 42-35.

 

After Wood drove the baseline at the other end and converted to get Drury within five, Hoosac Valley scored the next seven points, going ahead 49-37, on a Scialabba free throw early in the fourth quarter.

 

“From my perspective, they fought,” Downey said of his Blue Devils. “It ended up being almost a 30-point game, but, in my mind, it wasn’t a 30-point game, and it could have been way worse way earlier. They just exerted a lot of energy and, unfortunately, came up short tonight.”

 

Drury (6-7) goes to South Hadley on Wednesday.

 

Hoosac Valley (9-3) is at Amherst on Wednesday.