CHESHIRE, Mass. — The Hoosac Valley girls basketball team is Final Four bound in the Division 5 State Tournament with a win over St John Paul II, 60-34, on Thursday night.
It’s been an easy road so far for the Lady Hurricanes as they book their third consecutive trip to the D5 semi-finals. Emma Meczywor led the way with 16 points, while Taylor Garabedian added 13 and Ashlyn Lesure 12.
This was one of the more complete games played by the No. 10seeded Hurricanes as they jumped out on top quickly and never looked back. Emma Meczywor got things going from the start with four consecutive points which matched St John Paul II total for the entire quarter.
Hoosac Valley was able to do whatever it wanted on the offensive end and it led to layup after layup. Hoosac controlled the game from the jump, speeding the visitors up with their half court trap as well as slowing it down and running offensive sets in the half court. Hoosac was able to take a comfortable 15-4 lead at the end of the first quarter and showed no signs of slowing up.
“We knew they were going to come out in man-to-man defense which was nice to see because we have some great sets against it,” Hoosac Valley coach Jon Frederick said. “The girls executed, we can run whatever we want but if we can’t execute we won’t score. We played really well today and I think we played a solid 28 or 29 minutes and I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
Second quarter action saw a similar story as Hoosac continued to dominate in all facets of the game. With the constant success down low, the Hurricanes were able to spread the ball around knockdown shots from deep. This helped Hoosac Valley cruise into halftime with a commanding 33-13 lead that they would maintain throughout the second half.
Hoosac hasn’t been challenged too much so far down the stretch, cruising to a Western Mass title and continuing that same high level of play into the state tournament. Having been here before, the girls are ready and know what comes with the territory.
“Our girls know, we’ve been here before so we know what it’s about, but getting them to maintain focus is really what keeps us where we are at,” Frederick said. “They know we have a target on our back and we’re going to get everyone’s ‘A’ game, so we just need to keep fighting.”
The 2022 state finalists will look to get back to the championship game next week after falling short a year ago with a loss against Millis in the Final Four.
Hoosac Valley (20-3) awaits the winner of Friday’s game between No. 4 Renaissance School (22-0) and No. 5 Westport (21-1).
