Generals Outlast Hoosac Valley for Third Straight Win

PITTSFIELD, Mass. – The tone for Friday’s battle between the Pittsfield and Hoosac Valley girls basketball was set on the opening tip – the first opening tip.

 

The referees actually had to repeat the jump ball after a tie-up on the floor at center court and no clear possession off the jump.

 

It was that kind of night, when neither team gave up an inch before the Generals used a 14-2 second half run to take an eight-point lead and go on to a 66-60 win over the previously unbeaten Hurricanes.

 

Charlotte Goodnow scored 17 points, and Madison Stetz had a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds as Pittsfield (3-2) won its third straight.

 

The game featured nine different lead changes and more than 60 turnovers as both teams played full-court defense throughout.

 

“We’ve been working and making sure we talk on defense at practice, making sure we’re not reaching and playing how we know how to play and not playing rugby,” Goodnow said.

 

“We expected to get on them the whole entire night and just play how we know how to play.”

 

The Generals won the turnover battle, forcing 36 giveaways by the Hurricanes (3-1).

 

“It was a game of runs, obviously, and, you know, we had ours at the right time and were able to hold on,” Pittsfield coach Joe Racicot said. “The kids did a pretty good job.

 

“We do have quickness, and when we’re smart about things, we get a lot of tipped balls, and it gives us some great opportunities for some easy baskets.”

 

Racicot said he was not expecting to press the whole way, but it worked out.

 

“I wasn’t, to be honest with you,” he said. “But I think it might have hurt [Hoosac Valley] a little bit offensively.

 

“But it didn’t really prove it in the end, because they hit some nice shots in the end coming back.”

 

Three Hurricanes finished in double figures with Ashlyn Lesure leading the way with 16 points. Taylor Garabedian had a double-double with 15 points and 15 rebounds. Reagan Shea and Haley McNeice added 10 and nine points, respectively.

 

Hoosac Valley had the game’s first big run, scoring 10 straight to end the first quarter and take a 17-13 lead.

 

Several of those points came in transition, including a basket by Lesure on a play that started with a steal by Garabedian at midcourt..

 

Hoosac Valley coach Jon Frederick said that while his team played full-court defense all night, the emphasis was not so much about pressure.

 

“We knew [the Generals] were quick,” Frederick said. “And we just have a hard time dealing with speed. We really didn’t press, per se, to have anything happen, other than to try to slow the pace of play down.

 

“I think that helped us, and we got a couple of turnovers out of it which was good. But, again, that wasn’t our intent. Our intent was to just kind of hang around and slow down and keep from getting into a track meet. We get into a track meet, and we’re done.”

 

The Generals started the second quarter with seven quick points, the last two from Harolyn Castillo (15 points, three assists) off a turnover caused by the Generals’ press.

 

Hoosac then took a five point lead, and the Hurricanes eventually went ahead, 31-28, on a 3-pointer by Shea with 22 seconds left in the half.

 

A putback by Garabedian midway through the third quarter gave Hoosac Valley a 43-35 lead.

 

But Pittsfield responded with a 10-2 run to the end of the quarter that featured five points, including one of three 3-pointers, from Goodnow.

 

“A couple of them were a little further out than the comfort zone,” Racicot said with a smile. “But, you know, what, if a kid’s got a good look, you can’t blame ‘em for it. You’ve got to take the shot. She was successful today with that, and hopefully that’s going to continue.”

 

Goodnow opened the fourth quarter with a triple to give Pittsfield the lead for good at 38-45.

 

The Generals went on to score the next six points to push the margin to 54-46 on a bucket by Castillo.

 

They took their biggest leads late at the foul line. First, Dezerea Powell (eight points) got a steal, a lay-up and a conventional three-point play to make it 64-52. Moments later, Stetz was fouled trying to put back an offensive rebound and sank both her free throws to make it 66-53 with 1 minute, 17 seconds on the clock.

 

The Hurricanes battled back getting a 3 from Haley McNeice (nine points) and a pair of baskets from Shea down the stretch, but Hoosac Valley ran out of time.

 

Frederick was frustrated that the Hurricanes were in such a deep hole to begin with, and he had no problem identifying the reason.

 

“These turnovers are just, I don’t know … they’re unforced, and it’s killing us,” he said. “I know they’re getting frustrated too. But we just need to slow things down and make the right decisions, better decisions, period.”

 

He did agree that Pittsfield’s defense played a role in some of those decisions.

 

“Some is pace, for sure,” Frederick said. “But a lot of is ust mental – giving up that dribble and not knowing where we were going to go with the ball. We knew they were gonna double us, and we told them, ‘If you pick up that dribble you better know where the heck you’re going with the ball, because you’re going to have two girls on you before you know it.”

 

Hoosac Valley will look to regroup and get ready to host Lee on Jan. 2.

 

Pittsfield has a holiday week game at Mount Greylock next Friday, and the Generals will hope to keep the momentum going from their toughest win of the season so far.

 

“I thought it was a great, well-played game for this time of the year,” Racicot said. “And I think we’ve got some good things to look forward to.”