AMHERST — Playing at the Curry Hicks Cage is old hat for three-time defending western Massachusetts champion Quaboag Regional High School.
For Turners Falls High School, the trip to a sectional semifinal was a far more unique experience.
The veteran Cougars showed their familiarity with the Cage early and often Monday. No. 2 Quaboag stormed out to a 16-2 lead and never faltered, pulling away from No. 3 Turners for a 76-40 win in the Division IV semifinals that put the Cougars one win away from their fourth title in a row.
“They’ve been here multiple times and we’ve never been before, so that’s a pretty big advantage,” offered Turners junior Maddy Chmyzinski in praise of Quaboag. “It’s hard to lose but we’ve accomplished a lot this season. There’s nothing to be ashamed about.”
Chmyzinski did her part with a game-high 23 points, but it would have taken many more to derail the tested Cougars.
Turners (16-6) was playing with house money in Monday’s semifinal. The Powertown, which won its first tournament game in 23 years, thanks to a quarterfinal victory over No. 6 Lenox Memorial High School, was playing in the semifinals for the first time since the 1993-94 season. That’s 17 years no matter how you tally it.
“Do we like that we lost? No. Are the girls upset about it? Absolutely. But let’s keep it in perspective,” Turners head coach Ted Wilcox said. “Win or lose tonight, you have to be happy with what the girls were able to accomplish this season.”
Quaboag, which knocked off No. 7 Pioneer Valley Regional School in its quarterfinal-round game, was powered by the inside/outside combo of seniors Alexia Paquette and Emma Stanton. The sizable Paquette scored 17 points and added 10 rebounds, using her strength to get to the basket for easy hoops and foul shots, while Stanton camped out in the corner and sank five 3-pointers en route to 17 points of her own.
“What do you want to do? Do you want to come out and get (Stanton) and open up the inside for Paquette, or vice versa,” explained Wilcox of the unenviable challenge for his defense. “The biggest thing we faced was giving up multiple shots. We didn’t do a good enough job boxing out and they got a lot of looks at the basket.”
Quaboag head coach Clifford Lanier sent his middle-school coach to scout Turners leading up to the semifinal showdown. He said he knew his side had an advantage, at least along the front line.
“The first problem I thought (Turners) would have was they didn’t have size to be able to match up against us,” Lanier said. “So we had to go inside against them with Paquette.
“But I really felt coming in that they’re a young team and we’re not,” he continued. “We’ve been here a lot. We’re comfortable here, so let’s attack them. When you don’t have seniors like they don’t, that’s tough in an environment like this.”
It didn’t take long for the three-time defending champs to showcase their firepower. The Cougars stormed out to an 8-0 lead, holding Turners scoreless for the first 3:30 of the game before Aliyah Sanders scored the team’s first points of the semifinals.
Quaboag carried a 16-2 lead after Cassidy Paquette drilled a 3-pointer with 2:18 left in the opening stanza. Emma Miner hit a pair of free throws and Chmyzinski sank a jumper to cut the deficit to 16-6, but Quaboag closed with five quick points, including another Cassidy Paquette 3-ball for a 21-6 advantage that set the tone.
Turners did respond with its best run of the half to open the second quarter, however. Chmyzinski knocked down a 3-pointer on the first possession of the frame to key a 7-0 run that pulled the blue and white back within single digits down 21-13 with 6:27remaining.
But the Cougars, showcasing their full arsenal of weapons both inside and outside, answered back quickly with a plethora of points in rapid fashion. Quaboag exploded for a 17-0 run in a span of 4:49, creating some serious separation and taking control of the game with a 38-13 advantage.
Junior Kylie Fleming finally disrupted the run with a 3-pointer with 1:38 left before half, but Quaboag still hit the locker room with a commanding 40-17 lead.
“It was our first time here and I think we had some jitters,” admitted Wilcox.
Quaboag used a 20-3 second-half run to put things out of reach. Turners hit five 3-pointers in the second half, with Chmyzinski scoring 15 of her 23 after intermission. The Cougars extended the lead to 64-28 entering the fourth before the two teams scored 12 points a piece in the fourth.
Fleming was Turners’ second-leading scorer with 8 points, including a pair of 3’s, and she added 9 rebounds in a strong outing. Aliyah Sanders, who hit the game-tying shot to force overtime against Lenox, added 3 points and pulled down 5 boards, while Abby Loynd scored 2 points and added 8 rebounds.
“It says a lot about our team to get here, with no seniors and the juniors who started this run,” Chymzinski explained. “Hopefully next year we can go even farther.”
With the entire roster back next year, that’s certainly not out of the question.
“This is a game we want to win going forward,” said Wilcox of the semis. “They’ll be proud of what they did. They’ll regroup and they’ll come back stronger next year.”
Quaboag advanced to Saturday’s WMass D-IV final against the winner of No. 1 Lee High School and No. 5 Monson High School, which play their semifinal game tonight at 7 back at the Cage. The title tilt is slated for 10:45 a.m. on Saturday in Amherst.