CHESHIRE, Mass. — The Hoosac Valley girls basketball team Wednesday continued to put the “D” in Class D basketball.
The Hurricanes got 20 points from Averie McGrath, and that alone would have been enough offense in a 55-15 win over Turners Falls.
Hoosac Valley forced 36 Turners turnovers in advancing to Saturday’s regional tournament championship game against Lee, a 52-35 winner over Mount Everett in Wednesday's other semi-final. The teams will meet at noon on Saturday at MCLA's Amsler Campus Center.
Through two games in this post-season, Hoosac Valley has allowed 17 points in 64 minutes, a point every four minutes. It has held the opposition scoreless in half the quarters it has played after doing it in the second against the Thunder.
“We have tried to talk about the small pieces about our defense,” Hoosac Valley coach Holly McGovern said. “I thought we were an OK defensive team beforehand, but we really went to film, broke things down and put all our concentration this week into how to be good teammates, how to be positive teammates and how to work together effectively.”
Rylynn Witek scored 11 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Alyssa Garabedian had 10 boards, and the Hurricanes (17-3) won for the seventh time in eight games.
Fourth-seeded Turners Falls (14-6) took it to the Hurricanes early, getting a conventional three-point play from Madison Liimatainen in the opening moments to make it 5-5.
Hoosac Valley scored the next 13.
McGrath got things started when she converted an assist from Garabedian and got the and-one to give the Hurricanes the lead for good. Witek capped the run with a drive from the left wing to make it 18-5.
The rout was secured in the second, when the Hurricanes outscored their guests by a margin of 16-0, forcing 11 turnovers and getting eight points from McGrath and six from Hanna Shea, who finished with eight.
Although the game was all but decided by half-time, McGovern opted not to rest her starters in the second half, instead working in her bench players in different combinations with the starting five to keep everyone moving forward.
“We’re trying to take any learning opportunity,” she said. “We want to help them make the right decisions, so when they go out on the court, they’re confident and can go out and succeed.”
Next stop for Hoosac Valley is Saturday’s Western Mass final, a game that won’t count in terms of power rankings for next week’s state tournament, but will give the Canes a chance to defend the Western Mass title they won in 2020, the last year of the old sectional tournament format.
