Hoosac Girls Hold Off Pittsfield Rally

CHESHIRE -- Ignorance was bliss for Hoosac Valley girls basketball coach Ron Wojcik on Saturday night.

A minute into the fourth quarter of the Hurricanes' game against Pittsfield, senior guard Jenn Gale picked up her fourth foul, but Wojcik did not hear when assistant coach Bob Lelair pointed that out.

"I probably would have taken her out," Wojcik said.

Instead, Gale stayed in the game and dropped in a 3-pointer that opened up a 41-25 margin on the way to a 58-41 Hoosac win.

"Part of me, in hindsight, says that was a point in the game where we were making a run, so you can take a chance and maybe put the game away," Wojcik said.

"She's a scorer, and a lot of times you need her on the court for that."

Gale scored 19 Saturday, including 11 in the second half, and Hoosac (7-1) held off a third-quarter comeback bid by the Generals (1-3).

Pittsfield got within four points after trailing by as many as 16 in a rough first half.

"In the first half, the hole was dug because the kids weren't cutting," Pittsfield coach Joe Racicot said. "They weren't moving around.

"Hoosac's defense was a lot more aggressive than it has been in the past. It just seemed like they wanted it more."

Pittsfield committed 18 first-half turnovers, and Hoosac freshman Kailynne Frederick had eight rebounds and two blocks off the bench after Emily Rosse picked up an early second foul.

At the other end of the floor, McKenzie Robinson had two first-half 3-pointers on the way to an eight-point night.

Madi Ryan set up Robinson for a triple midway through the second half to give Hoosac its biggest lead of the half, 22-6.

It was a 12-point margin at half-time, but Pittsfield stormed out of the locker room with a 10-2 run.

Allie Hunt (nine points) had a conventional three-point play, an offensive rebound that led to Dominique Satrape's 3 and an offensive putback during the rally.

"Allie came out strong in the second half," Racicot said. "We talked about a few things in the locker room, and she had some rebounds and made some putbacks."

Meg Rodowicz stemmed the tide with a putback, a steal and a transition bucket to get the lead back to eight, 31-23, and ignite a 16-2 Hoosac run.

Rosse capped the rally with a basket to make it 43-25 on her way to a 13-point night.

Wojcik said he was proud of the way his team responded after Pittsfield's run to open the second half.

The 'Canes also were responding to a wake-up call Wojcik provided during a third-quarter timeout.

"I broke a clipboard," he said with a smile. "I told them they owed me a clipboard, and they said, 'That was your fault.' I said, 'Oh no, it was yours.'

"We were kind of standing around. I felt they needed that spark. As a coach, you don't do that all the time, but you kind of boot 'em in the rear end and try to get them going."

Hoosac travels to face Monument Mountain on Monday. Pittsfield hosts Mount Greylock that night.