SHEFFIELD, Mass. – Mount Everett’s Emma Goewey Thursday showed how many ways she can influence a game in a Senior Night win over Lee.
Goewey scored 15 points and grabbed 15 rebounds as the Eagles earned a 57-42 win over their South County rivals.
But even when she was not scoring, her presence in the post opened up opportunities for the Eagles’ outside shooters, especially Emily Steuernagle, who hit three 3-pointers and scored a game-high 18 points as the Eagles (7-6, 6-3 Franklin West) bounced back from a loss for the sixth time this season.
“She’s a workhorse,” Mount Everett coach Josh King said of Goewey. “She’s a very tall and athletic girl. She works extremely hard at both ends. … She takes contact a lot and just keeps working hard, and I applaud her for doing that.
“She definitely creates wide open shots for people. We’re trying to get her into seeing those. A lot of teams are doubling her. A lot of teams are trying to draw that offensive charge from her. And I’ve been talking to her a lot this year about, ‘If you feel that extra girl, that means someone’s there. Someone’s got to be open. … Try and move that ball just a little bit quicker.’ “
Although Mount Everett has four games left before the Western Mass tournament, Thursday marked the final regular season home game for Goewey and Maggy Sarnacki, who finished with seven points and five rebounds.
“She’s my best friend,” Goewey said of Sarnacki. “It’s kind of troublesome in practice because we do fool around a lot. She’s there for me when I need her. We have our arguments on the court, but she’s there for me when I need her, and I’m there for her when she needs me.”
Mount Everett needed both to get the offense kick-started on Thursday night.
Lee held a 4-3 lead midway through the first quarter after Taylor Salice (12 points) hit a jumper from the baseline.
Sarnacki answered with the first of her two 3-pointers to give Mount Everett a 6-4 lead.
The last four minutes of the half saw both teams get their offenses going, and Goewey had a couple of putbacks to help the Eagles take a 17-10 lead into the second quarter.
“”Once we make the five, six, seven passes and we truly move the ball, we find someone open all the time,” King said. “When we come down and try to do the one-and-go, that’s where we struggle scoring. It’s such better basketball for us when we move the ball around. We find the open teammate, we do the little things.
“When we make [a shot], nine times out of 10, it’s because we made the extra pass.”
Lee fought back in the opening stages of the second quarter, getting back within a bucket whe Mia Puleri (17 points) scored in transition to cut the Eagles’ lead to 21-19
But Steuernagle hit a 3-pointer at the other end to ignite a 9-0 run to half-time that ended when she beat the buzzer with a shot in transition. And then she opened the second half with a 3 to extend the run; eventually Mount Everett scored 19 in a row to take a commanding 40-19 lead.
Lee never got closer than 15 points the rest of the way.
Mount Everett may have kept its run going through half-time because it kept its players on the floor during the break for the Senior Night festivities.
King said both his senior standouts will be missed.
“It’s definitely a good way to go out,” King said of Goewey and Sarnacki. “They’ve been playing really well. We were down to eight [players]. The kids play hard. They take a lot of beatings. And the kids just keep coming back.
“We took a tough one on Tuesday at Easthampton. … But the girls battle, and they have all year. I can’t thank them enough for the effort they put forth.”
The Eagles Saturday will look for back-to-back wins for the first time since Dec. 20 and 21 when they travel to Southwick.
Lee (2-11) is at McCann Tech on Monday.
