CHESHIRE, Mass. – After playing from behind most of the night and trailing by eight late in the third quarter, the Wahconah girls basketball team Wednesday battled back to within one early in the fourth.
Then Hoosac Valley’s Haley McNeice drained a 3-pointer that ignited an 18-4 run and sent the Hurricanes on to a 50-36 win over their Suburban Division rivals.
McNeice went on to hit two more 3s in the decisive run and tie for game-high honors with 13 points as
Hoosac Valley improved to 3-0 and handed Wahconah its first loss.
“Haley was on fire,” Hoosac Valley coach Jon Frederick said of McNeice. “Even out of the gate, I think she had the opening 3, if I’m not mistaken. She played really well for us today in [Hanna Shea’s] spot. She hit a lot of big shots.
“It was good to see her step up, and she always seems to when we put her in, even if she is a sub. She has the hot stroke and she can make that shot.”
Ashlyn Lesure scored five points in a fourth quarter that saw Hoosac Valley score almost half its points for the game (23), after a defensive slugfest through the first 24 minutes of play.
Abby Scialabba and Taylor Garabedian each scored 10 points, and Emma Meczywor scored nine to go with a game-high 10 rebounds in the win.
Wahconah’s Madison McCarthy tied for the game high in points with 13 and collected eight boards. Olivia Roberts scored 12 for Wahconah (1-1).
After McNeice opened the game with a triple, Roberts responded in kind, but the Hurricanes pulled ahead to lead, 13-5, when Scialabba converted an and-one with 1 minute, 32 seconds left in the first quarter.
But in a pattern that would repeat, Wahconah fought back, scoring five straight to get within three early in the second after McCarthy converted a free throw.
McCarthy went on to be a force throughout the night for Wahconah
“She’s comfortable in that role,” coach Liz Kay said. “She’s physical. She’s willing to get to the rim. She can shoot. And then she also has the ability to get paint touches and kicks. Olivia Roberts had some good threes. Emma Jacinto coming off the bench gave us some good minutes. And then, of course, you’re feeding off of kids like Dani Barry and [Olivia] Mason. That’s something that will feed us going forward.”
Hoosac Valley opened up a 19-10 lead when Maryn Cappiello scored with an assist from Meczywor. But Wahconah scored the last six points of the first half to go into the locker room down by three.
The Hurricanes used a 6-1 run to stretch that lead to eight on a free throw by McNeice with 1:55 left in the third quarter to make it 25-17.
But McCarthy drove the lane and pulled up for a jumper to start a 9-2 spurt that spanned the third and fourth
quarters and ended with a triple by Roberts to make it 27-26.
“She’s a kid that sat on the bench for three years, right?’ Kay said. “That’s somebody who has been tentative. And when you get to be a senior and you get the opportunity, she’s like, ‘I’m not sitting anymore, and I’m going to take advantage of every opportunity that I have.’
“I think that’s a kid who truly lives in the moment, which will be a great example for the younger kids coming up as well.”
Meczywor answered Roberts with a 3, but then Roberts knocked down another triple, this time assisted by Anna Doyle, to make it 30-29.
Hoosac Valley proceeded to build another lead. And this time it maintained the advantage.
After McNeice’s second 3-pointer of the game pushed the margin back to four points, Scialabba scored four straight, Lesure scored a lay-up in transition after a steal by Meczywor, and McNeice connected again from behind the arc in a 12-3 spurt to make it 42-32 despite another Roberts 3 for Wahconah.
Doyle hit a free throw to get it back to single digits with four minutes left, but the Hurricanes scored the next six to lead by 15 with two minutes left to play.
Frederick would be happy to see a few more 23-point quarters going forward.
“We haven’t been shooting the ball very well the first three games, period,” he said. “We were struggling again for the first 25 minutes. I think the kids were kind of getting down on themselves, like, ‘I’m putting in all this practice, why aren’t my shots falling?’
“I think [McNeice] hit a 3. I think Ashlyn [Lesure] hit a shot from the opposite wing. … It was good for the kids to see balls go through the hoop – other than what was going on when they were bouncing all over the floor.”
Hoosac Valley Friday plays its first independent game of the winter when it travels to face Pittsfield.
Wahconah stays in league play when it travels to Hampshire on Friday.
