Generals Pull Away in Second Half at Hoosac Valley
CHESHIRE, Mass. – Harolyn Castillo recorded a double-double, and the Pittsfield girls basketball team mounted a 15-0 run in the third quarter en route to a 63-46 win over Hoosac Valley on Thursday night.
The unbeaten Generals led by just one at half-time, and Hoosac Valley’s Reagan Shea (12 points) hit a 3-pointer early in the third quarter to tie the game, 35-35.
But Pittsfield took over from there, forcing eight Hoosac Valley turnovers in the decisive run.
It started with a free throw for Castillo (17 points, 12 rebounds), who got to the line attempting to put back an offensive rebound, included five points from Kyana Summers (13 points) and ended Asia Smith-Moody scored in transition to put Pittsfield up, 50-35 in the closing minute of the quarter.
Pittsfield played with the defensive intensity that has been its calling card all season and kept that going into the third quarter despite a first half that saw both teams rack up numerous fouls.
“We came out playing our game,” Generals coach Kristy Conyers said of the way they started the second half. “I told them, ‘Don’t stop playing your game. We’ve got a few of you in foul trouble. Respect the call, but still play your game.
“You’ve got to play defense. Stop reaching, period. And they came out and kept their hands up.”
Pittsfield jumped on top, 18-11, in the first quarter thanks to seven early points from Caprese Conyers (10 points, six rebounds).
But Hoosac Valley had an answer, finishing the quarter with a triple from Sophie Wilson and a pair of free throws from Ashlyn Lesure (eight points) to cut that deficit in half.
The Hurricanes got within a bucket midway through the second quarter when Emma Meczywor (12 points, 10 rebounds) hit a 3-pointer from the left-wing corner to make it 25-23.
The Generals answered with six straight – two buckets from BreJai Ellerbee and a Summers transition hoop – to go up, 31-23, with just more than two minutes left in the half.
Again, Hoosac Valley fought back.
A pair of Genevieve Lagess free throws started a 9-2 run to half-time that Lagess capped with a basket assisted by Shea to make it 33-32, Pittsfield.
But the visitors ended up winning the second half by a margin of 30-14, mostly due to that big third-quarter run.
“We’ve got a couple of girls sick, one with appendicitis, so we’ve got stuff going on all over the place here,” Hoosac Valley coach Jon Frederick said. “So my thought going into the game was, ‘Play one quarter at a time.’ We lost the first courter by four or five, something like that. We won the second by [three], so we were pretty good.
“So we go into half-time with the same mentality, ‘Just one quarter at a time.’ And we kind of got ourselves sucked back into the Wahconah game mentality, where we were just going to decide to pass the ball, and we can’t make these long passes against these teams. We’re not strong enough, we’re not tall enough, and they’re just lightning quick.
“You make a long pass, and it’s going the other way.”
After cruising through its first four games with average margins of victory of 34 points, Pittsfield (7-0) answered the bell after being challenged for the second time in seven days. The Generals started 2025 with a road win at 2024 Division 1 state semi-finalist Central. On Thursday, Pittsfield won convincingly in a game that was essentially tied at half-time against the ‘24 Division 5 State Champs.
“Adversity,” Conyers said. “You’re not going to be up at half-time every game. And whether you’re up or down, the second half is a new game, no matter what the score is. I teach them, the coaches teach them, the second half is a new game. … Don’t drop back and not want to play defense. Second half is a new game, like it’s 0-0 up there. Come out and play.”
For Hoosac Valley (5-2) Thursday marked the second setback of a week that started against Wahconah on Tuesday.
Despite the final score against the Generals and the illness/injury bug, which only got worse Thursday when Maryn Cappiello (six points, six rebounds) left with an injury in the fourth quarter, Frederick saw some positives.
“I’m proud of our kids,” he said. “Emma Meczywor was throwing up throughout, pretty much, except for on the floor. We thought we lost her at half-time, but she came out like a trooper. Reagan [Shea] got into foul trouble early, but she only fouled out with three minutes to go, right? So she kept herself in control, which was good.
“And our younger kids kind of stepped it up a little bit, which is even better. So for them to get in a game like this and still compete and compete at the level we need, it’s a good thing.”
Hoosac Valley goes to Taconic on Friday.
Pittsfield is at Westfield on Monday.
Photos from this game to come.