It’s been some time since Hoosac Valley High School lost a tournament game.
Mahar Regional School fans remember it fondly.
The fifth-seeded Senators aim to repeat history this evening when they battle top-seeded Hoosac at 6:15 in a Western Mass. Division III semifinal at the Curry Hicks Cage on the campus of UMass in Amherst. The Hurricanes have captured four consecutive WMass titles, including a victory over Drury High School in last year’s D-III championship game.
Mahar has the distinction of being the last team to beat Hoosac in the postseason. The Senators, led by current Westfield State University star Jill Valley’s 23 points, knocked off the Hurricanes in a double-overtime thriller in Orange in the 2012 D-II quarterfinals, propelling Mahar to an eventual WMass runner-up finish.
Since then, however, Hoosac has been one of the most dominant programs in western Mass. The Hurricanes (19-2) have won four straight titles, including a 2013 semifinal win over Mahar (57-37) en route to their first of four straight sectional crowns.
“It puts more pressure on Hoosac, than it does us. We have pretty much nothing to lose,” Mahar head coach Larry Fisher said of the recent history. “But don’t mistake that with us not having expectations, because we aren’t going to the Cage to not be able to go back again. We want to go back on Saturday (for the finals).”
This year’s Hoosac team has just two losses to its name. The Hurricanes were knocked off by South Hadley High School, while also taking a loss to eastern Mass. foe Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School. But Hoosac has played well against local competition, as it was the lone team to defeat Greenfield High School during the regular season (73-32 on Dec. 16) before Mahar eliminated the Green Wave in the D-III quarterfinals last week.
“They’ll play a hard, man-to-man defense, usually in the full court,” said Fisher of the Hurricanes. “They’ll jump off and try and double-team our guards. Defensively, that’s generally how they play and they tend to not get out of that.
“With our group of girls, we have to bring the ball up quickly and avoid these double teams,” he continued. “The most important part of the game will be between our 3-point area and their 3-point area. If we can get past that, I think we can finish around the rim. It’s going to be an up-tempo game and we like to play that way.”
Hoosac is led by senior Fallon Field, who committed to play collegiately at Division III Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. Field averages 14.8 points per game, though she’s joined in double-figure scoring by sophomores Allie Mendel (14.1 ppg) and Lexi Mercier (11.5).
“Fallon Field is hard as a rock, she’s been steady for four years as a guard for them, and plays very good defense,” Fisher lauded. “Offensively, they like to shoot a lot from the outside. I think they have over 100 3-pointers so they’re averaging six or seven per game.”
Mahar beat a pair of local foes in Greenfield and Frontier Regional School to reach the Cage for the first time since 2012. The Senators enter tonight’s semifinal red-hot, having won 13 games in a row dating back to a Jan. 16 loss to Greenfield. Eleven of the 13 wins have come via double-digit margins.
Seniors Cassidy Verheyen (14.1 ppg) and Kenzie Tenney (12.7) have set the tone for the Senators during their impressive winning streak. Verheyen scored 23 points in the quarterfinal win over Greenfield, while Tenney has scored in double figures in five of her last six games. Junior Hannah Paul (8.5) had a breakout performance in the team’s win over Greenfield, as she poured in a season-high 26 points to help the Senators into the semifinals.
“This is a different group than (assistant coach) Tony (Paoletti) and I have had,” Fisher explained. “They seem to be very focused and determined. The practices lately have been quiet and serious.
“We’re impressed with the way that they’ve carried themeslves,” he continued. “They don’t get down at each other.”
Verheyen is the lone Senator to have played at the Cage, as she was an eighth-grader on the 2013 team that lost to Hoosac.
“She’s the only one who has any experience there for us, but we’ve done a lot of talking and preparedness for what they’re going to see (at the Cage),” said Fisher. “First of all, it’s an honor to be there. These kids deserve to be there. But at this point, they’re battle-tested. They’ve played some tight games this year, played hard-nosed. If we play the way we can play, we’ve got a great chance.”
Tonight’s game is the first of two Division III semifinals, with No. 2 South Hadley (21-0) meeting No. 3 Hampshire Regional High School (18-4) at 8. The winners will play for the D-III title on Saturday at 2:15 back at the Cage.