Generals Rout East Longmeadow in Opener

AMHERST, Mass. -- Harolyn Castillo scored 16 points and grabbed eight rebounds, and the Pittsfield girls basketball team used stifling defense Sunday to earn a 69-34 win over East Longmeadow in the Pioneer Valley Tip-Off at UMass-Amherst.

 

Castillo was named the game's most valuable player after starting things out with a 3-pointer and getting at least a bucket in each quarter for the Generals.

 

"It was really important because we want everyone to know that we're coming this year, and we wanted to start off strong," Castillo said of the dominant performance. "To start out strong is a good note, so everyone knows we're coming for that Western Mass Championship."

 

Pittsfield gave up just two points in the first quarter and 10 points in the first half, playing tough end-to-end defense from the jump.

 

"It's really fun," Castillo said of the Generals' pressing style under first-year coach Kristy Conyers. "A lot of teams hate it, but pressure wins games, and hard defense wins games. And we just talk and get through it."

 

Conyers was pleased with what she saw from the squad, which forced 41 turnovers in the win.

 

"The girls came out playing hard," she said. "I told them, no matter what the score was, you had to to keep going 100 percent -- no matter what defense we were in, no matter how much we were up by. If we were missing lay-ups, you still had to keep your head up and keep playing."

 

The Generals forced nine first-quarter turnovers -- six out of the full-court press -- and took a 15-2 lead after eight minutes.

 

Emma Gosselin scored in transition for the Spartans midway through the quarter to get her team on the board at 9-2.

 

But Pittsfield closed on a 6-0 run, getting a basket from Castillo, a Kyana Summers lay-up in transition and Caroline Sherman's basket with an assist from Carprese Conyers to make it a 13-point margin.

 

In the second quarter, Pittsfield did not get the same pressure full court but continued its ferocity in the half-court, generating eight of its 10 takeaways there.

 

East Longmeadow used a 6-2 spurt to briefly draw within 11 at 21-10, but Pittsfield ended the half on a 6-0 run: a Castillo jumper from the right wing, a Castillo basket in transition after a steal by Conyers and Bre'Jai Ellerbee's jumper from the left wing with an assist from Grace Stetz to take a commanding 27-10 lead into the locker room.

 

Any thought of a Spartan comeback was dispelled with a 10-0 Pittsfield run to open the second half.

 

Caprese Conyers led Pittsfield with 17 points. Ellerbee scored 10, and Madison Stetz added eight.

 

"Everybody scored today, every person on the team, from freshmen to seniors," Kristy Conyers said. "I made it clear to all of them. They all have the green light to shoot and score. Nobody has to hold back.

 

Photos from this game to come.