AMHERST, Mass. – Kyana Summers recorded a triple double Saturday to lead the Pittsfield girls basketball team to a 60-25 win over Westfield at the Pioneer Valley Tip Off at the University of Massachusetts.
The Generals’ sophomore scored 19 points, passed out 11 assists and made 12 steals as Pittsfield earned its first win of the season.
Steals from Summers and all the Generals were the difference as Pittsfield forced 38 turnovers, including 14 in the first quarter, when Pittsfield jumped out to a 24-6 lead.
“We kind of took advantage of a few things and finally got to run the floor a little bit,” Pittsfield coach Joe Racicot said. “We caused a little havoc, and it felt pretty good, actually.”
It was good for the Generals to build some confidence at both ends of the floor after 2023 Division 1 state quarter-finalist Springfield Central and D2 Northampton.
Pittsfield turned up its pressure early and often against the Bombers, generating six turnovers off its full court press in the first quarter and five more on the press in the third, when the Generals outscored Westfield by a margin of 21-2.
“Northampton and Central, they’ve got some good players,” Racicot said. “But we knew Westfield had one girl on this team that could score, and we did a pretty good job slowing her down, so it worked to our advantage.”
Pittsfield started the game on a 13-0 run bookended by a pair of 3-pointers from Charlotte Goodnow, who went on to score 14 points.
Summers scored seven points in the first quarter, which ended when Madison Stetz made a steal off the press to set up a lay-in by Bre’Jai Ellerbee.
Westfield was able to slow down the Generals in the second, cutting into the deficit to go into the locker room down, 29-16, after Tatiyana Zuniga scored five of her seven points.
But Pittsfield put the game away in the third, using eight points from Goodnow and six from Stetz, who also finished with 14 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.
Dezerea Powell scored six points to help round out the scoring on a day when Pittsfield had its best offensive production of the early season.
“Once we started moving the ball pretty well and got some open looks, things started to come together,” Racicot said. “We had some good rebounding. And we found the open man. So we’re pretty excited about what happened today.”
Pittsfield (1-2) goes back on the road on Tuesday to face Holyoke.
