Tuesday December 11, 2012

WILLIAMSTOWN -- The Hoosac Valley girls' basketball team hit six 3-pointers in the first half and withstood a furious Mount Greylock rally to grab a season-opening win, 50-38 Monday night.

The Hurricanes outscored the Mounties 17-3 in the second quarter. Fifteen of those points coming from behind the arc.

"We definitely had a good shooting night and we definitely made our shots," Hoosac's Jen Gale said. "We just tried to play good defense and have that translate into offense."

Gale had a team-high 16 points, including three 3-pointers. The Hurricanes got off to a fast start taking a 15-7 lead after the first quarter before holding the Mounties to just one basket in the second.

"It wasn't necessarily the 3s, but more so our defensive pressure and intensity," Hoosac coach Ron Wojcik said. "I thought we did a good job in the first half. We came out intense, we had good traps and we had a lot of energy. I thought we let down some in the second half. That's when they started getting some really good looks and beating us."

Lucy Barrett had Greylock's lone basket in the second quarter and the Mounties seemed to have no answer for the Hurricanes' defensive style.

Hoosac was able to beat Greylock to the majority of loose balls and pressured the Mounties into making some bad decisions in the offensive end. The Hurricanes were able to steal pass after pass as the Mounties pressed to find an opening.

"I knew

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we were a young team coming in and this was just going to be a function of them figuring it out," Greylock coach Paul Barrett said. "I told them it was going to be a series of four-minute games, and in the first four I think we weathered the storm. I'm not really sure what happened in the second quarter, it really just opened up for Hoosac Valley."

Led by Barrett, the Mounties made a hard charge in the third quarter. She recorded 16 points in the game, including eight in the third frame. Mackenzie Flynn added seven of her own in the third, as the duo combined 15 points. The Mounties won the quarter 17-12 to close the gap a little.

The Mounties also had the advantage in points in the fourth quarter, 11-6, but it wasn't enough to erase the 22-point lead the Hurricanes had built at halftime.

Despite being outscored in the second half, the Hurricanes were able to buckle down defensively in the fourth quarter. Emily Rosse and Tori Rumbolt combined to play solid defense in the final five minutes, with Rosse getting three late rebounds and Rumbolt coming up with two steals.

"It was just our defense and keeping Lucy from shooting her 3s," Rosse said. "I was just trying to grab every board I could."

To reach Sam Monroe, email
smonroe@thetranscript.com.
On Twitter: @NAT_DigitalSam