CHESHIRE, Mass. -- The Hoosac Valley girls basketball team Saturday used a big second quarter to open up a lead and a 12-2 run in the second to put the game away.
Rylynn Witek scored 14 points as the Hurricanes earned a 51-26 win over Mount Greylock.
The Mounties went toe-to-toe with the reigning state champions through the first quarter, but Hoosac Valley scored nine straight early in the second to take control.
“I thought Mount Greylock came out and they had a game plan for their half court offense, and they did a good job moving the basketball,” Hoosac Valley coach Holly McGovern said. “And then we made an adjustment and things took off from there, that’s all. I think basketball is a game of adjustments.
“We’ve been working a lot on our different sets of defenses throughout the week, and we took the things we’ve been doing in practice and just executed it in the game.”
The Hurricanes forced six turnovers during their big second quarter run. The last two were steals by Annie Canales (seven points), that led to transition points: first a lay-up by Ashlyn Lesure and then a free throw opportunity for Averie McGrath, who made one of two to give Hoosac Valley a 19-18 lead with 3 minutes, 27 seconds left in the half.
The Mounties responded with four straight points from Delaney Babcock (12 points).
She hit a free throw with 3:16 left in the half to snap Hoosac’s run. Then, the next time down the court, she earned a trip to the line for a one-and-one, making the first and then putting back her own miss on the second for a backwards three-point play that made it 19-12.
Hoosac Valley closed the half on a 6-2 run to take an 11-point lead into half-time.
It was a 13-point lead midway through the third when the Hurricanes put the game out of reach with a 13-2 run.
It started with a couple of free throws by Lesure and ended with Witek driving through the lane for a bucket to make it 43-19.
The one sour note of the win for the Hurricanes came early in the third, when Lauren Davis slipped on a wet spot in the front court and had to leave the game. The referees, school officials and coaches from both schools evaluated what appeared to be a drip coming from the ceiling of the gym, and play resumed with a parent stationed at the spot to wipe the floor with a towel when action was at the other end.
Hoosac Valley officials moved the junior varsity boys game to a secondary gym with hopes of being able to play a 5 p.m. boys varsity game in the main gym.
The win moved Hoosac Valley to 7-3 heading into Tuesday, when it gets one more shot at unbeaten Wahconah.
“I think for where we are in this season, we’re in a good location,” McGovern said. “We’re still building. There’s plenty more we can still put in, plenty more that we can teach these young ladies in the next two weeks, and that’s what we’re going to do.
“These ladies are great. I love seeing them at practice every day. They’re learning. They’re growing. I think what you saw today was a lot of unselfishness, team basketball, team concepts. They’re just using them all the time.”
