AMHERST — The biggest games tend to come down to one or two plays. Thursday night, Hampshire Regional High School made one or two more than Greenfield High School.
The top-seeded Raiders got a 3-pointer from Madelyn Pond at the end of regulation to send the game into overtime, then ended the game on a 7-0 run to knock off the fifth-seeded Green Wave, 63-59, in the Western Massachusetts Division III Girls’ Basketball Tournament semifinals at UMass’ Curry Hicks Cage.
Pond’s 3-pointer with 30 seconds to play in regulation tied the score at 53-53 and left the Green Wave with the final chance of the game. It didn’t work out. A turnover as time wound down sent the teams into the extra four-minute session. Despite giving up the late lead, the Green Wave (21-2) got off to a great start in the extra frame, scoring the first four points. Samantha Smith knocked down a pair of free throws on the opening possession. Then, Lizzy Howland followed with a 10-footer that put the Wave up 57-53.
It was then time for Hampshire center Caroline O’Connor to step up. Going into overtime, O’Connor, who averages 13 points per game, had just 4 points. In overtime she went to work, getting the Hampshire offense started by drawing a layup foul and knocking down the free throw to pull the Raiders back to within one, 57-56. Howland, who did not have a point in regulation, followed that up with her second hoop of overtime to put the Wave up 59-56 with 2 minutes, 46 seconds remaining, but that was the final time the Wave scored. O’Connor was fouled by Greenfield’s Katie Haselton with 1:10 on the clock, which did one of two things. Not only did O’Connor go to the free-throw line and knock down both shots to bring the Raiders back to within a point, the call knocked Haselton from the game with her fifth foul.
That seemed to stall the Wave offense a bit, as it failed to score on the ensuing possession and again it was O’Connor, who hit a layup with 38 seconds to play to put Hampshire ahead 60-59. Greenfield again failed to score, and Pond was fouled with 25.9 seconds to play, sending her to the line, where she made 1-of-2 to give Hampshire a two-point lead. Unfortunately for the Wave, when Pond missed her second shot, the Raiders collected the rebound and Lila Labrie hit a runner to give Hampshire the four-point that stood to the final buzzer.
“They worked hard all year and got where they wanted to go but just came up a little short,” said Greenfield coach John Hickey. “You’ve gotta make plays and they made one or two more at the end than we did. That was the difference in the game.”
Hampshire (20-2) advances to face sixth-seeded Wahconah Regional High School in Saturday’s championship game at 2:15 at Curry Hicks.
Another battle that was waged on Thursday was that of Hampshire’s Katelyn Pickunka and Greenfield’s Smith, as the two forwards each had stellar games. Pickunka finished with a game-high 26 points but did not factor into the OT scoring for her team. Smith led the Wave with 22 points. Both girls were at their best when their teams seemed to need buckets the most.
Despite Hampshire playing in its third straight semifinalsn, and the Green Wave making its first-ever appearance at the Cage, Greenfield never looked overwhelmed and the game remained close throughout. Other than the Green Wave grabbing a short-lived seven-point lead in the second quarter, and Hampshire taking an also short-lived six-point lead in the fourth, neither team was able to go up by more than one or two possessions throughout the game.
Greenfield’s largest lead came with under two minutes to play in the second quarter but Hampshire closed the frame on a 7-0 run to send the game into halftime tied at 23-23. The game remained tight in the third quarter, but Greenfield took a 38-34 lead into the fourth. Hampshire quickly got ahead in the final period, and stretched the lead to 46-40 with 5 minutes to play, but Greenfield went on a 11-2 run to go up 51-48 with 1:27 to play and set up the dramatic finish to the fourth quarter. With Greenfield holding a one-point lead (51-50), Haselton drained both free throws she attempted with 47.5 seconds to play, but Pond matched her heroics with a 3-pointer from the left of the key to send the game to OT.
Pond finished with 14 points in the win, and O’Connor wound up with 11 following the seven points in OT. Lila Labrie and Maggie Rubeck each added 6.
Raegan Hickey finished with 16 points for the Green Wave, and Haselton added 15. Howland chipped in 4 points in OT, and Kirsten Ward scored 2. Howland and Ward joined guards Jenna Silk and Leah Bosco in playing their final games for the Wave.