Conyers Leads Taconic Girls Past Athol

CHESHIRE, Mass. -- Shaylee Conyers scored 15 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and blocked three shots Saturday afternoon to lead the Taconic girls basketball team to a 51-34 win over Athol at the Hoosac Valley Berkshire County Girls Basketball Coaches vs. Cancer Showcase.

Taconic (5-5) jumped out to a 22-2 lead after the first quarter, allowed Athol to get back within 12 but righted the ship and cruised to its second straight victory.

Freshman Addison Lyon, in her second varsity game, came off the bench to sink two third-quarter 3-pointers to help re-establish the lead.

Conyers scored 14 of her points in the first half.

“She’s been doing a great job for the last few games here,” Mickle said. “She definitely bothers a lot of stuff. She’s versatile. She can throw a good outlet pass. She rebounds. She can shoot it a little bit. I thought she got away from going to the hoop, but she was really going to the hoop early in the game.”

Lyon finished with nine points. Junior Ashley Rufo scored 15.

“Ashley’s definitely maturing,” Mickle said. “She played a great game up at Wahconah the other night, and she’s really starting to get the leadership role of being a point guard and the mental attitude I want from our point guard. I want our point guard to be in charge of things. She’s getting confident right now, which is a good thing.”

Athol made it a 30-18 game with 5 minutes, 28 seconds left in the third quarter before Taconic pulled away with a 14-4 run.

Lyon hit two 3s in that sequence, which Rufo capped with a triple of her own.

“Every time [Lyon] goes in, she scores,” Mickle said. “She can shoot the ball. We knew this was a team that plays a bit of zone and figured she could shoot the ball, and she did. She did some good things for us.

Riana Gittens grabbed 11 rebounds.

Taconic hosts Hoosac Valley on Tuesday.