Pittsfield Returns to Final to Defend its Title
PITTSFIELD, Mass. – Caprese Conyers scored 20 points and passed out six assists Friday to lead the Pittsfield girls basketball team to a 64-30 win over Pope Francis in the semi-finals of the Western Massachusetts Class B Tournament.
The top-seeded Generals wasted little time putting the game away with their typically suffocating defense.
Pittsfield forced 17 turnovers in the first quarter – 10 with its full-court pressure – in building a 22-7 lead.
“We told them, ‘You’ve just got to come out and play. No matter who is out there, you’re playing defense,’ “ Pittsfield coach Kristy Conyers said.
“The points will come. That’s what we’re trying to let them know. Yeah, we get a lot of points off our defense. But relax on offense. The points will come. Push it on defense.”
Pittsfield kept pushing the Cardinals in the second quarter, forcing eight more turnovers en route to a commanding 38-13 half-time lead.
Kyanna Summers was credited with 10 steals, and Caprese Conyers had seven swipes to anchor the defense.
It was an 11-5 game with about three minutes left in the first quarter when Pittsfield mounted an 11-2 run to take control.
Harolyn Castillo (10 points, nine rebounds) got it going with a bucket assisted by Conyers. Castillo scored in the post during the run and ended it with the putback of an offensive rebound to give PHS a 15-point margin.
In the second quarter, Pope Francis got within six on a bucket by Brooke Beadling (11 points) to make it 24-12.
But the Generals closed the half on a 14-1 run to put the game away.
Conyers scored three straight times, twice by driving the right wing, to get the run started. And she ended it with a steal and a lay-up for the 25-point margin.
Pope Francis held its own on the scoreboard in the third quarter despite nine more turnovers, thanks largely to the rebounding of Eden Kornacki, who finished with 14 boards.
The Generals’ starters watched the fourth quarter from the bench as the teams combined to score eight points.
By then, Pittsfield was already thinking about a return trip to the Western Mass finals, where, a year ago, the Generals beat South Hadley as a springboard to their run to the Division 3 State Semi-Finals.
Once again, the opponent will be the third-seeded Tigers, who advanced on Friday with a 62-60 win over No. 2 Frontier. Pittsfield this winter owns two wins over South Hadley, by scores of 60-53 and 79-64.
“We’ve played them both, they’re both good teams,” Conyers said of the Tigers and Redhawks before knowing who advanced. “Both good programs. So it will be a good game either way.”