NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – The McCann Tech girls basketball team Tuesday got 13 points from Izzy LaCasse to earn its first win of the season.
But its coach saw the Hornets’ potential long before the 38-26 win over Mount Everett.
“Even our Palmer game,” Kathy Budaj said. “We made some beginning-of-the-year, dumb mistakes because we hadn’t been together for a year. But even with the score [a 58-34 loss], it was a much better game. We had the lead. We were up by 11 in that game.
“And then Easthampton, the same thing – coming out in the third quarter, we let them back in. We had more people up for the bench today, which was helpful.”
For a while in the third quarter on Tuesday, it looked like it might be a repeat of the 65-54 road loss in Easthampton.
The Eagles (1-3), who trailed, 21-9, at half-time, got five points from Maggy Sarnacki to briefly cut into that deficit before exiting the third quarter again down by 12 points at 29-17.
“We came out a little complacent,” Budaj said. “It’s hard when you’re up to keep that momentum. I said, ‘All right, let’s go, you’re letting them back in.’ And they did a good job.”
LaCasse scored seven of her 13 points in the fourth quarter to help keep Mount Everett at bay.
Macey Tatro scored eight points, and Hannah Boisvert added seven in the victory.
Mount Everett’s Emma Goewey tied for game-high honors with 13 points.
“[Goewey] is a tough player,” Budaj said. “She definitely posed some problems for us. I just told the girls: Stand your ground, deny her the ball, make it difficult to get the ball into her. The more pressure we put on the other players so they couldn’t make an easy pass into her – that was our hope.
“And they did a pretty good job of that.”
Three games into the season, McCann Tech is, understandably, a little behind where it normally might be at the end of December. Unlike most area teams, the Hornets did not have even an abbreviated season in January and February of this year. Tuesday’s game marked the first home game for Budaj’s team since March 2020.
“We’re definitely a year behind – just remembering the plays, just remembering how to run the court, how to fill the lanes, all the basics where, if you’re not doing it, a year is a long time,” Budaj said. “Getting that back in practice is taking some time. I knew in the beginning we’d be struggling a little bit. I think we’ll get into a rhythm.
“For not having worked together – I mean Addie [Hayer] was on varsity as a freshman, but she didn’t get a ton of playing time. So Macey [Tatro] and Izzy [LaCasse] are really the only two who really return. I was impressed with Catryna Marsh tonight coming in off the bench, and Hannah Boisvert has been solid for us.”
McCann Tech (1-2) is off until Monday, when it hosts Pope Francis.
Mount Everett Monday goes to Easthampton.
