TURNERS FALLS — Twenty-four points in the first eight minutes seemed to portend some kind of school record in the offing.
The offense came much tougher for Franklin Tech after that point, but the Eagles had themselves plenty of a cushion to move ahead in the MIAA Division 5 girls basketball tournament Tuesday night, posting a 53-40 first-round victory over visiting North Brookfield.
Tech (18-5), the No. 21 seed, advanced to a second-round game Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at 12th-seeded Palmer (14-7).
North Brookfield, seeded 44th, finished at 10-11. The Indians were 7-10 with three games left, won a game by forfeit, and then their last two just to qualify for state tournament play.
Lea Chapman scored all 18 of her points in the first half to lead the Eagles. Hannah Gilbert added 16, with 10 coming in the second half, and Kaitlin Trudeau also ended in doubles with 10.
“We started in a 5-0 hole, a little slow getting out of the gate,” said Tech coach Joe Gamache. “We went on a nice run, and the girls played with a ton of energy in the first half. Maybe we exerted ourselves a little too much. We’re gonna need to bring that same energy for the remainder of the tournament.”
Laura Orne and Lola Sukharev hit early jumpers, Sukharev’s a three-pointer, to give the Indians a 5-0 advantage only 45 seconds into the action. But Tech soon got its transition game going, stringing together a 16-2 run that included eight points from Chapman. An exchange of treys – one each by North Brookfield’s Sukharev and Serenity Ayala, sandwiching Trudeau’s long ball – made it 19-13 before Tech scored the last five of the quarter to lead 24-13.
The defenses and general sloppiness took hold from there. The Eagles managed seven points in the second quarter, five by Chapman, to North Brookfield’s nine, to maintain a 31-22 hold at the half.
Tech then held North Brookfield without a field goal for the first 4:47 of the third quarter, starting the half on a 7-1 run, to lead by 15 at 38-23. By quarter’s end, it was 40-27, and Trudeau began the fourth quarter by sticking a 3-pointer only 10 seconds in to put the hosts up by 16.
Ayala, who finished with a game-high 20 points for the Indians, scored all seven of her team’s second-half field goals and had 15 of their 18 points over the final two quarters. North Brookfield never came closer than 11 points.
For the night, Tech committed 31 turnovers, but North Brookfield had even bigger problems with ball control, with 43 giveaways in all. At the foul line, the Eagles went 11-of-24 to the Indians’ 7-of-18.
“Defensively, we played pretty well. Offensively, we were a little careless. The hope was that we’d play a little more relaxed and confident,” said Gamache, whose team came off two victories and a championship last weekend in the state Vocational tournament. “This is postseason basketball, and the good news for us is that we’re battle-tested.”