Hoosac Girls Pull Away in Second Half
CHESHIRE, Mass. -- The Hoosac Valley girls basketball team overcame their own slow start and a very game Wahconah team for a 62-34 win on Friday night.
Fallon Field scored 18 points, and Kailynne Frederick scored 12 with eight rebounds as the Hurricanes rolled to their 14th win of the season and 45th win in a row against Berkshire County competition.
Although Hoosac (14-1) ended up winning by nearly 28 points, this one was a whole lot closer than that midway through the third quarter.
And late in the first quarter, it looked like neither team might be able to score 28 points.
Six minutes, 22 seconds into the game, McKenna McIlquham scored in transition for Wahconah to make it a 4-3 ballgame.
Hoosac used a 7-0 run at the end of the quarter to score a respectable 11 points, but it was the Hurricanes' defense that was keeping them afloat.
"We talk about it," Hoosac coach Ron Wojcik said. "There are going to be nights when it's just not falling. We missed a lot of layups. A lot of shots just rimmed out.
"I thought defensively we were solid all the way through, and I told them at half-time, if you can hold a good team to 15 points and hold them for another half, you should win the game -- regardless of what you're doing offensively."
After Wahconah (8-5) got back within one point with an Ashley Zink 3-pointer to make it 11-10 arly in the second quarter, Hoosac went on a 14-3 run en route to a 25-15 lead at half-time.
But Wahconah was not finished yet.
In the third quarter, McIlquham had a basket and an assist in a 7-0 run that got her team within seven, 31-24 with 3:36 on the clock.
"Wahconah had a great scoring night when I saw them the other night [against Monument Mountain]," Wojcik said. "I think the scored 67 or something like that. And they have kids who can play. It's a very good basketball team."
Wahconah then got the ball back with a chance to trim the lead to five, but Field made a steal and scored five points in a 10-2 run that pushed the lead back to 15 with a minute left in the third.
"Sometimes, teams get close to us, and we seem find a way somehow," Wojcik said. "It was Fallon tonight. She made a couple of big plays. I thought a couple of the subs off the bench made some big plays, and we were able to push that lead back up."
Field scored eight more in a 21-6 fourth quarter as Hoosac continued to build on its lead.
Wahconah travels to Lenox on Monday night.
The Hurricanes are off until Thursday, when they will host the last Berkshire County team to beat them: Pittsfield, which did the trick nearly three years ago to the day, Feb. 5, 2013.