Wahconah Girls Head to Connecticut on Saturday

The Wahconah girls basketball team knows a lot about going on the road.

 

But this is extreme.

 

On Saturday, Wahconah plays its sixth straight game away from home -- this time in Windsor Locks, Conn., as part of the inaugural Connecticut-Massachusetts Challenge.

 

Coach Liz Kay takes her team south of the border to face her former team, Coventry in one of four interstate battles.

 

"I thought we've gotta get out of the area, and this is an opportunity to get out of the state and be part of something really unique," Kay said on Friday.

 

For her, it's also personal -- the first time she will have a chance to go up against Coventry, which, like Wahconah, sports a 5-2 record.

 

"I didn't coach any of these kids, which is probably good. I think that might be hard," Kay said. "But the Coventry coach was my assistant, and one of his assistants played for me."

 

Wahconah will be joined by Western Mass Division 1 teams East Longmeadow, Minnechaug and Ludlow. Host Windsor Locks will take on Ludlow in the nightcap at 7 p.m. Wahconah's game is scheduled for 4 p.m., the second game of the day.

 

Kay said Coventry will show her team a different look than they get locally.

 

"Our league, the Berkshire County NOrth, is so brutal," she said. "Hoosac is rolling. The league is more physical up here.

 

"Down there, I'd say it's a little bit more of a finesse game. Their individual ball skills might be a ltitle better but they may not be quite as athletic."

 

There will be one big adjustment that she knows Wahconah will have to make. Connecticut does not use a shot clock, something she and her fellow coaches lobbied for when she was in the Nutmeg State.

 

"Ironically, when I was down there if I told my kids I wanted them to hold the ball, they would have laughed in my face," Kay said.