NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – When the McCann Tech girls basketball team was able to get into a half-court game on Tuesday night, it went toe to toe against Ludlow.
Unfortunately for the Hornets, the Lions did not let that happen very much.
Luclow forced 30 turnovers with its press en route to a 44-23 win.
As well as the Lions played defense, they also benefited from McCann Tech being shorthanded due to illness.
“We have worked on breaking the press, and we’re getting there, but I didn’t have any of my guards tonight,” McCann Tech coach Justin Kratz said. “All my point guards were out due to illness.”
Out of 18 players in the program, just 11 were available for Tuesday’s game, forcing Kratz to call up some of McCann Tech’s younger players and forcing many of those youngsters to see significant minutes in both the junior varsity and varsity games.
Ryleigh Remillard and Ava Friese scored eight points apiece to lead a balanced Ludlow attack.
In the early stages, McCann Tech jumped out to an 8-2 lead and led into the second quarter.
Hannah Boisvert scored six of the first eight points for the Hornets, beating the press on the dribble down the left wing and finding room on the baseline for a couple of easy buckets.
“Hannah – she works and she works and she works,” Kratz said. “I feel bad that I have to ask her to play so out of position. It’s not my point guards’ fault, they’re sick. But Hannah, against a team like that, with her height, I should just need to play her in the post and let her go to work.
“And I’m asking her to do so much. It’s not fair to her, but she puts in crazy effort.”
Boisvert finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Amaya Todd scored seven points and grabbed a game-high 13 boards.
McCann Tech’s Aolani Luczynski scored in the post with less than two minutes to go in the first quarter to put McCann Tech up, 10-5.
But Ludlow closed out the quarter on a 4-0 run.
And it took control of the game in the second with an 11-0 run to take a 22-12 lead with 1:50 left in the half.
The Hornets managed just four points in the second quarter and just two in the third to go down, 33-16, with eight minutes left to go.
Throughout the game, even up by more than 20 points in the fourth quarter, Ludlow kept its full court pressure on. Kratz said afterward that he was actually glad that his young squad got the experience against the pressure.
And he was very happy with the way the Hornets responded to Tuesday’s challenges.
“I told them just now in the locker room, the amount of effort they gave right to the end of the game, no matter what, impresses me,” Kratz said. “Until we get our ball handlers back, we’re going to struggle
“We also said in the locker room, if we can figure out how to break this press, we can have a field day in the half court. But I told them at half-time, they’re going to press you for another 16 minutes. We know it’s coming, so we’re just going to use tonight to get better at breaking the press.”
