SOUTHWICK — Not even the spirit of Rebecca Lobo could keep the Pioneer girls basketball team out of the postseason on Wednesday night.
With the former Southwick legend’s name and state scoring-record banner overlooking James E. Vincent Gymnasium, the visiting Panthers held the Rams without a field goal for the first 9 minutes and 20 seconds of action to set a tone that carried on throughout the 32 minutes of their Franklin County League South contest. With its back against the wall, Pioneer won its 10th game of the season to qualify for the Western Massachusetts Division 4 tournament on the strength of a 31-16 victory in the regular-season finale.
The Panthers (10-10, 5-3) won their final three games of the regular season to qualify for the tournament for the second straight year and sixth time in the last seven seasons.
“We were 4-8 after the Frontier game (a 49-48 loss on Jan. 28),” began Pioneer head coach Mike Churchill. “I told the girls, ‘Keep your heads up. If we can put that same type of effort into the rest of the season, we can get to 10 wins.’ And they did the work. Defensively the last few games, we have just absolutely clamped down. They’ve put together three 32-minute efforts in a row. That was the mantra in the locker room. Thirty-two, 32, 32, and if we do that, we’re going to make the tournament. And now we’re here.”
A loss to Ware last week dropped Pioneer to 7-10 on the season. With three games to go, the Panthers couldn’t afford another loss if they wanted to punch their postseason ticket.
“The tournament was in everyone’s mind but the focus was, look, we can’t win the third game until we win the first one,” Churchill said. “Let’s come out, get the win at Putnam (on Feb. 14), come home Tuesday and play 32 more to beat Turners Falls. That led us to (Wednesday’s win over Southwick). These ladies have absolutely rallied around each other and I feel good for them. This is validation for the work they’ve put in since December 3. Here we are, we’ll wait until Saturday (at the seeding meeting), see where they send us and go from there.”
Pioneer never appeared in danger of losing Wednesday’s road tilt at Southwick, though nothing came particularly easy over the course of the 32 minutes. The visitors got off to a good start, using their stout defensive effort to hold the Rams without a field goal until nearly two minutes into the second quarter. By that point, the squad had built a 9-2 lead that it would not relinquish the rest of the night.
“We didn’t have the legs tonight. A lot of shots didn’t fall, but we didn’t quit,” said Churchill.
Southwick (2-16, 1-7) got within 9-6 early in the second quarter, but Pioneer locked down defensively and closed the half on a 7-0 run to take a 16-6 lead into the locker room.
The 1-2 punch of Steph Scoville and Paige Loughman snatched control of the game offensively in the second half, as the duo combined for 11 of the team’s 15 points after the break. Scoville, who played through foul trouble, finished with 10 points in her final regular-season contest, while Loughman led the way with 12 points in the low-scoring affair.
Southwick, which went nearly nine minutes without a point between the third and fourth quarters, never managed to cut the deficit to single digits the rest of the way. Pioneer led 21-8 after three quarters and had its lead grow as big as 31-11 before the Rams closed the game with the final five points.
Churchill received contributions from his entire roster. While Scoville and Loughman continued to lead the offense, the Panthers benefited from defensive work thanks to the likes of Kaitlin Trudeau, Emily Tibbetts and Sofia Walker. Pioneer went 11 players deep on Wednesday, with Sarah Ellis, Azemina Cecunjanin, Charlotte Kahler, Sarah Johnson, Alina Cecunjanin and Caroline Ring all providing at least one memorable spark throughout the 32 minutes.
“We’ve got some young players that are contributing big minutes on the varsity stage,” lauded Churchill, who has just one senior on the roster in Scoville. “They aren’t intimidated by anybody we play against. They go out there, fight for rebounds, do everything we’re asking. This team, one through 12, everyone contributed and that’s what we’ve had all season long.”
The Panthers, who have played a hefty number of Division 3 teams this winter, don’t expect to be an easy out come tournament time. Defense travels, and if Pioneer is tasked with playing an opening-round road game, expect a slugfest.
“I think if we play defensively like we played the last three games, even if we have to win a low-scoring game, we can do it,” said Churchill. “I don’t think there’s a team in Division 4 that we’re scared to go play. We’ll take whatever they give us and make our run.”