WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – The Mount Greylock girls basketball team Tuesday showed that it can learn from history.
Last season, the Mounties welcomed Ludlow to Williamstown and lost most of an 18-point lead before holding on for a three-point win.
On Tuesday, Mount Greylock took a 10-point lead at half-time and never looked back to earn a 41-18 win and even its record at 1-1.
Charlotte Coody scored 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds, Molly Sullivan scored seven and the Mounties’ defense did its job, forcing 28 turnovers.
Mount Greylock coach John Jacobbe said he did remind his squad how Ludlow rallied to make a game of it last year when the teams met in the Mountiedome.
“We were in a similar spot last year and had probably a little bigger lead,” Jacobbe said. “Ludlow has a lot of pride, and they work hard, and we know that from last year.
“We fought through some adversity tonight. We’re still trying to work our game together, and we’re trying to find our rotation. We have a lot of players who are very similar in size and skill, and we’re trying to find what combinations work best. So I’m working on my game. The girls are working on their game. And tonight we did enough to hold on, and I was happy.”
Sullivan and Coody dominated the opening stages, combining for all their team’s points in an 11-2 first quarter.
After Ludlow’s offense woke up a bit in the second, AJ Pelkey closed the half with a 3-pointer to send her team to the locker room up, 18-8.
They stretched the lead to 13 on a Sullivan bucket in transition midway through the third quarter before Ludlow put on a 6-2 spurt that featured a couple of rare Mount Greylock turnovers to get the margin back to single digits.
But rather than let the Lions build momentum, Coody got to the line twice in the last 2 minutes, 33 seconds and hit three of her four free throws to make it a 28-16 lead going to the fourth.
“Charlotte is an offensive force inside and a tough cover,” Jacobbe said of the sophomore pivot. “She just has to continue to improve her ability to make some layups, and tonight, in the second half, I think she made most of the ones that she got.
“Teams are going to double and triple team her because she’s someone we look to to score. And I think she’s going to keep getting better and better.”
One big key for the Mounties on Tuesday was ball control. Mount Greylock had just one turnover in the first quarter and just five in the first half.
“When [Ludlow] pressed the ball high, their bigs went back to protect the basket, so we were going over the top to our bigs,” Jacobbe said. “The only times we turned over the ball was when we made 20-foot passes across lanes.
“So we’ve got to make the right passes. But I think in pressure and one-on-one ball-handling we protected the ball well tonight.”
Mount Greylock travels to Agawam on Friday before finishing the 2022 portion of its schedule at Monson on Dec. 29.
