At first glance today’s WMass Division 3 girls’ basketball final may feature a bit of a David vs. Goliath narrative.
On one end of the court, you have second-seeded Hoosac Valley Regional School (18-4), which would be the Goliath in this case as the school has won western Mass. titles in five of the past six seasons, only failing to capture a crown last year due to an upset loss to Wahconah in the WMass Division 3 semifinals. On the other end, you have a Greenfield High School (19-3) team that is seeded fourth and is only playing in its second girls basketball title game ever, and that game did not go well, as the Green Wave fell to Southwick, 65-34, 29 years ago.
But when the ball goes up and Samantha Smith wins the tip at 2:15 p.m. at Curry Hicks Cage to get the game started, all of that won’t matter, as the two teams many felt would be butting heads in this game prior to the season, will have 32 minutes (or possibly more) to decide who will hang the 2019 championship banner in their gymnasium.
Hoosac Valley presents several challenging aspects to its game. Hurricanes shooting guard Alie Mendel is a handful on the court, with her ability to drive the ball and shoot from distance. Mendel’s story is an incredible one, as the senior was diagnosed with papillary thyroid cancer on June 21. Less than six weeks later, Mendel had successful surgery to have the thyroid and lymph nodes removed. According to an article in the Berkshire Eagle, Mendel will have a body scan this month to find out if the cancer has spread. It’s something that no teenager should have to deal with, but Mendel has been a role model for others dealing with adversity, something not lost on Greenfield coach John Hickey.
“Whatever she does, regardless of basketball, she is going to be successful in life,” Hickey began. “What she’s been through, and what she’s accomplished in her career, it’s incredible. I have a lot of respect for her, her teammates, the coaching staff and that program. You don’t get here every year for no good reason. And she can shoot it, she can pass it and she can go to the basket.”
Mendel hit three consecutive 3-pointers in the second quarter of Wednesday’s 56-32 clobbering of third-seeded Wahconah in the other semifinal game. That game was over at halftime, as Hoosac enjoyed a 37-8 lead.
Classmate Lexi Mercier hit four 3s in that game and finished with 21 points and is another great shooter, while junior Riley Robinson, whose father Bill Robinson was the longtime boys coach at Hoosac, runs the point, although plays a forward position. She is the glue to the team and can do almost anything well. Junior Sarah Field is a forward with the ability to step out and knock down a 3-pointer, and junior Shaleigh Levesque is the least-used player in the offense but is a capable scorer if called upon.
Hoosac scores in two ways, either in transition or by shooting 3-pointers. If the team gets out in transition it comes from turnovers off its aggressive full-court and half-court press, or by quick transition off defensive rebounds. Otherwise, the team likes to move the ball around in the half-court offense and try to get open looks from outside. The Hurricanes also do a good job getting after offensive rebounds, something that Hickey has been stressing to his team this week.
“They don’t have a ton of size but it’s the old adage, long shot, long rebound,” Hickey said. “We’ve been working on it in practice, boxing out on the shooter because they shoot it and they go get it. If you forget to box out your person, they are going to make you pay.”
In two tournament games, Greenfield has struggled most on offense against zone defenses, but it will likely see a press against the Hurricanes. That will put pressure on guards Raegan Hickey, Katie Haselton and Racquel Provost, as well as forwards Samantha Smith and Olivia Joy to get back and help break it.
“The tricky part with the kids is that on a make, they use a full-court press, and on a miss they use a half-court press,” Hickey said. “When the ball is in certain people’s hands, we’re confident. We need to not turn the ball over a lot in order to win.”
While the Green Wave’s offense has been inconsistent in the tournament, the defense has been as good as advertised, holding Hampshire to 33 points in the quarterfinals, and then playing tough against a talented South Hadley team to limit the Tigers to 53 points.
“I think our defense will always be pretty consistent and I’m confident in that, but as much as defense is important, we’ve got to score the ball early,” Hickey said. “We need to be able to play four quarters of basketball in order to be successful. In big games like this, everybody has got to play well.”
Greenfield got off to a poor start offensively against the Tigers but Raegan Hickey’s 16 first-half points still helped the Wave to a 22-21 halftime lead. The game was decided in the fourth quarter when Smith took over and scored 13 of her team’s 23 points to help the Wave pull off a 55-53 victory. There is no one on Hoosac who can match Smith’s height, which could be a point of emphasis on the Wave’s offense.
Haselton will also look to heat up early as she is still waiting to play her best game of the tournament. If the sharp-shooter gets hot from the outside, it would be a huge boost to the Wave’s offense. Provost is a defensive specialist who can contribute on offense in the form of double figures, and senior forward Joy is a grinder down low, but has come up with some big buckets in the postseason and can not be left alone in the offensive end.
John Hickey said that the nerves will be there for him before the game, since he is coaching in his first finals, but he expects that to be gone by the time the ball goes into the air. Raegan Hickey said that she believes the Wave’s players got all their nerves out in the semifinal win against South Hadley.
“It’s a totally different environment,” she said of playing at Curry Hicks Cage. “It’s an experience unlike any other sport. We were getting out nerves out last game, so hopefully that’s behind us when we play and we can just focus on the game itself.”