Wahconah Girls Use Strong Defense, Big Third Quarter in Road Win

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- Wahconah girls basketball coach Liz Kay was expecting a little rust from her team in its first game in six days.

 

But coming out of the locker room with a 10-point lead at Mount Greylock on Thursday night, Wahconah looked like a team at the top of its game.

 

Maria Gamberoni scored nine of her game-high 18 points and passed out three assists in a 23-4 Wahconah run that spanned the third and fourth quarters as the visitors earned a 46-25 win.

 

“They listen,” Wahconah coach Liz Kay said of her team’s performance coming out of the locker room. “They listen really well. They’re hungry. They feed off their defense, so they know have to be successful defensively to be successful offensively.”

 

The knockout run actually started on the last play of the first half, when Victoria Gamberoni was fouled attempting a 3-pointer with 2.2 seconds left on the clock. She made two out of three to send Wahconah to the break with a 23-13 lead.

 

Victoria set up Maria for a triple for the first points of the second half, and a Victoria rebound set up Maria’s drive in the lane to make it 28-13.

 

Offensive rebounds figured big into Wahconah’s next five points, as second-chance opportunities led to a Jillian Cote jumper from the baseline and a Morgan Marauszwski 3 to push the lead to 35-13.

 

“We talked a lot about getting second-chance points. That was one of our points of emphasis before the game. I thought we could exploit that.”

 

Madison Ross (team-high 10 points) set up Emma Stevens in the post for Mount Greylock to stop a 12-0 run, but Wahconah went on to score 11 of the next 13 to lead, 46-17, midway through the fourth.

 

Photos from this game here.

 

Wahconah (4-1) takes a four-game winning streak into its Jan. 4 home game against Lenox.

 

Mount Greylock (1-4) is at East Longmeadow on Saturday.