Renaissance Pulls Away Late Against Lenox
HOLYOKE, Mass. – For the second year in a row, the Renaissance girls basketball pulled away in the fourth quarter to upend Lenox in the title game of the Western Massachusetts Class C Tournament.
Zi’yan Wallace scored 15 points and grabbed 18 rebounds, and the Phoenix held Lenox to three points over the final seven minutes to take a 48-41 win at Holyoke Community College.
Seven of Wallace’ points came at the free throw line, and, as a team, Renaissance went 17-of-26 from the charity stripe in the second half.
Lenox took just two free throws in the second half – with 34 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
Wallace picked up her second personal of the game and took a seat midway through the second quarter, and Lenox took advantage to take a 25-16 lead into half-time.
But while three Millionaires fouled out in the fourth, Wallace stayed on the floor to the end.
“They didn’t call one thing on her in the second half,” Lenox coach Nicole Patella said. “Are you telling me she didn’t foul? I’m not going to go through it, but the way they were manhandling Chloe Parsenios and not one call was just incredible.”
Claire O’Brien led Lenox with 11 points, Grace Julieano finished with eight points and six rebounds, and Jocelyn Fairfield passed out five assists.
Parsenios battled her way to eight points, all in the second half.
The Millionaires rolled into the second half on the strength of an 11-4 second quarter that saw five different Lenox players make a field goal.
Charlie Keator hit a 3-pointer assisted by Fairfield to make it 21-14 moments after Wallace sat. Then O’Brien scored off one of Parsenios’ four assists.
After Zhnai Wallace (10 points) scored for Renaissance to make it 23-16, Fairfield finished the first-half scoring by driving the right wing for a bucket to put Lenox up by nine at the break.
That momentum carried into the third, when Parsenios hit a triple and Kelsey Kirchner (six points) scored to give Lenox a 30-16 lead 1 minute, 30 seconds into the half.
Renaissance answered with a Wallace bucket in the post and a 3-pointer from Chassidy Rios assisted by Wallace.
Then the Phoenix parade to the foul line began. Renaissance scored 11 of its next 13 points at the free throw line. Keishla Rodriguez was fouled trying to put back an offensive rebound with 37 seconds left in the half and gave Renaissance its first lead since 4-2 when she made both her free throws to make it 36-34 going to the fourth.
Lenox grabbed the lead back to start the final period.
Parsenios scored in transition, and Grace Julieano finished an assist from Fairfield to make it 38-36 with seven minutes to play.
Neither team got much traction over the next three minutes. Renaissance picked up a couple of points from the foul line, and Wallace scored in transition to take a 40-38 lead. O’Brien answered to tie it with 3:39 left on the clock.
Renaissance forced turnovers on Lenox’s next six possessions while it eked out a 45-40 lead.
With 34 seconds left, Parsenios converted one of two from the line to get Lenox within four. But Renaissance went 3-for-6 at the line in the last 32 seconds to put the game out of reach.
The good news for Lenox (20-1/20-0 for state tournament seeding purposes) is that the season did not end with Saturday’s loss.
Earlier in the day, the Millionaires were installed as the No. 4 seed in the Division 5 State Tournament that gets underway this week.
Lenox awaits the winner of a play-in game between No. 36 Fenway and No. 29 Keefe Tech. If the Millionaires win in the first and second round of the tournament, they could face No. 5 Renaissance in the state quarter-finals – this time in Lenox.
Patella said Saturday’s game “absolutely” helps her team get ready for the state tournament battles to come.
“I just told my girls, they’ve got to get tougher,” she said. “They’ve got to get tough as nails. That team talks a lot of trash, and they’ve got to learn to handle that a little bit better.
“We practiced that all week. I had the boys come in and help put pressure on. And I thought we were ready and we could handle it. We did handle it. But when we saw someone who’s our floor leader [Fairfield], who calms us down [foul out], there’s only so much she can do from the bench for five minutes.”