CHESHIRE, Mass. — The Hoosac Valley girls basketball team is heading back to the Curry Hicks Cage after a 54-27 victory over Granby, on Friday night.
This is becoming a formality for the Hoosac Valley (19-2), as they make their fifth consecutive trip to the semi-finals in pursuit of their fifth straight sectional title.
Lexi Mercier led the way on Friday with fifteen 15 points, While Alie Mendel contributed with 14.
For Granby (11-11), Kate Sullivan had eight points and Kayleigh Croteau had six
It was a sloppy start for both teams as they both struggled to hold onto the ball. Granby eventually got the first basket, but that would only fuel Hoosac Valley into digging deep, as they went on a 10-0 run sparked by a couple 3-pointers. Hoosac continued to keep the pressure going, forcing multiple steals off of their full court press.
“When our defense picked it up, that is when we started putting points up,” Hoosac Valley coach Ron Wojcik said. “Our offense definitely gets going from our defense.”
Hoosac Valley ended the quarter up 18-8 and widened the gap going into the break 29-14.
The second half continued down the same path as the first, with hard-nosed defense from the Canes. Granby found itself struggling to get anything going offensively and had a hard time securing rebounds on the defensive end. Hoosac built its lead even more and basically put the game to bed.
These two teams are certainly no strangers to each other, Granby has been knocked out of the tournament the past three years by the Hurricanes, and this year was no different.
Second-seeded Hoosac Valley (19-2) is going for an impressive fifth consecutive Western Mass title, but will have to get by either No. 5 Mahar (17-5) on Thursday at the Cage. On Friday night, Mahar beat No. 4 Greenfield, 71-65.
“It sounds cliche, but we focus on one game at a time,” Wojcik said. “The kids know it, and we will get ready for whoever won tonight, and mainly focus on our defense which carries us. We’ll try to sure some things up that maybe we didn’t do well today.”
