CHESHIRE, Mass. — Saturday was a long day for Hoosac Valley girls basketball coach Ron Wojcik
Fortunately for the Hurricanes, it is a long season ahead.
Sophia Gatzounas scored 30 points and grabbed 18 rebounds to lead South Hadley to a 60-59 win over Hoosac in the championship game of its holiday tournament.
Wojcik walked away knowing that his team has some things to learn as it tries to win a fourth-straight Western Massachusetts title.
“I thought a lot of our inexperience showed tonight at times,” Wojcik said. “We didn’t play the smartest basketball tonight. We made a lot of poor decisions, we really did, on shot selection and some passes.
“And I think all those things hurt us.”
It all added up to Hoosac’s first loss in its home gym since Feb. 5, 2013, a 12-point loss to PIttsfield that was the last game before the ‘Canes won eight in a row, capped by the first of the three Western Mass Finals wins.
Of course, Wojcik on Saturday was less concerned with past glory than the immediate future for his Hurricanes (2-1).
The good news is that Hoosac has 19 more regular season games to play. Because of the MIAA’s exclusion rule, the Hurricanes were able to add two extra games to their schedule against Eastern Mass schools.
On Saturday, Hoosac came tantalizingly close to extending its home winning streak.
First, it overcame a six-point third quarter deficit to tie the game, 47-47, on a Fallon Field 3-pointer midway through fourth.
Then, after falling behind by two, the ‘Canes scored six straight to take a 53-49 advantage when Cassidy McMahon drained both ends of a one-and-one with 4 minutes, 40 seconds left on the clock.
But South Hadley rallied to go ahead 58-55 with about a minute on the clock.. It was 60-57 when Field drove to the basket with 30 seconds left, and Hoosac’s defense forced a turnover with 16 seconds on the clock.
Field drove the ball across the timeline and gave it to Madi Ryan, who penetrated and dished into the post. But Hoosac’s initial shot misfired, and a putback try was blocked by Gatzounas at the buzzer to send the Tigers back to South Hadley with their second one-point win of the tournament.
Field finished with a team-high 21 points, and Ryan added 11.
Marley Medina backed up Gatzounas with seven points. Medina also finished with 10 rebounds as South Hadley earned a 50-30 advantage on the glass.
“We scrap, but I know a good rebounding team is still going to hurt us,” Wojcik said. “I don’t think we’re at the point yet, fundamentally, where we’re looking for some things box-out wise and going-to-get-the-ball wise where we should be.
“I was more disappointed with this: The way we run our pressure and press, it has to be all out energy all over the floor. And that wasn’t there tonight for whatever reason. … I thought that was the difference.”
Hoosac is on the road at Mount Greylock on Tuesday.
