Hot-Shooting Chicopee Comp Tops Pittsfield
PITTSFIELD, Mass. – The Chicopee Comp girls basketball team Thursday hit three 3-pointers in the first minute and a half of the game to set the tone en route to a 69-50 win over Pittsfield.
Eliza Burger had two of those 3s, which helped the Colts jump out to a 10- lead and start a night when the visitors scored more than half their total – 36 points – from behind the arc.
“Every time we play ‘em, they get five or six 3s,” Pittsfield coach Joe Racicot said. “They usually don’t bunch them all together like they did.”
Taryn Corriveau scored a game-high 23 points – 15 on 3s. And Katie Gilooly hit four 3s and scored 22 points as Chicopee Comp avenged a 56-46 loss to the Generals back on Jan. 15.
“We’re a decent shooting team,” Colts coach Tony Couture said. “We normally try to get to the hoop, but I’ll take the start we had today. It was nice to start with three makes.
“But, yeah, we’ve got a decent shooting team.”
Pittsfield (10-4) settled down after falling into the hole and got a pair of first-quarter triples of its own from Harolyn Castillo (14 points, 10 rebounds) to play even the rest of the period.
In the second, though, Chicopee Comp was able to extend its lead by holding Pittsfield to just eight points.
It was still a 10-point margin with just less than three minutes left in the half, but Comp’s Corriveau scored seven straight points to help send her team to the locker room with a 17-point lead..
The Generals cut the margin to nine a couple of times in the third quarter but Chicopee Comp again pulled ahead – using an 8-0 spurt fueled by two Gilooly 3s late in the quarter to go ahead by 15 points with eight minutes left.
That 8-0 run came right after Pittsfield’s Kyana Summers left the game following a hard collision on the baseline.
A bucket in transition from Charlotte Goodnow (team-high 17 points) got Pittsfield within 10 one more time at 53-43 early in the fourth.
But the Colts used a 10-2 run to build an 18-point bulge with fewer than four minutes to play.
During that run, Pittsfield’s Bre’Jai Ellerbee picked up her fifth personal foul. The loss of both Summers and Ellerbee, on a night when the Generals already were short-handed, dashed any hope for a comeback.
“We had eight people today,” Racicot said. “We got hit by the bug a little bit. And trying to make a comeback and one of your better players ends up being injured …
“We’ll figure it out. We’ll be OK.”
Pittsfield (10-4) will look to get back in the win column on Monday when it hosts East Longmeadow.