PITTSFIELD, Mass. – The Taconic girls basketball team has played two games this winter, with nearly mirrored results: a 39-point loss in the opener against Hampshire Regional and a 62-22 win on Monday night against New York’s Berlin.
Some of that was the level of competition.
But much of it was about the Thunder coming into its own.
“Our first game, I thought we did play pretty well,” first-year coach Jason Conuel said. “We just struggled that first time seeing a press, not having gone against it.
“We made some adjustments. The first game, we had a freshman in the middle against the press. Now, if we get pressed, I have [Jaelynn] Walker in the middle, someone who has handled that pressure before.”
On Monday, the Thunder played lockdown defense for three quarters and converted turnovers and defensive rebounds into scoring opportunities at the other end to run away early.
Walker finished with a game-high 20 points, and senior classmates Anna Hebert and Jalisa Jessup scored
18 apiece as Taconic evened its record at 1-1.
The Thunder held the visiting Mountain Lions to no points in the first quarter and had a 50-9 lead by the end of the third before letting off the gas a little.
Nine of Taconic’s 13 first-quarter points came in transition, including a conventional three-point play from Walker to make it 9-0 midway through the quarter after Evaniece O’Neil pulled down a rebound at the other end.
O”Neil finished with eight rebounds. Walker grabbed nine, and Jessup pulled down seven to go with her 20 points and eight steals.
“[Jessup] comes in every day, every drill in practice, she’s always going 100 percent,” Conuel said. “Really, that’s all three, including Walker and Hebert. They go hard all the time. And they’re really aggressive.
“I’m trying to teach them to control their emotions, because they’re going to be fatigued a lot. And when you’re fatigued like that, you’re going to make some mistakes. Going forward, it’s let’s try to make the right play, let’s not force a play.”
Jessup got to the line on the break at the end of the first and hit both her free throws to make it 13-0.
Berlin got on the board in the first minute of the second quarter when Nikki Minkler scored in the post to make it 15-2, but Taconic scored the next 13 points to jump start its most productive quarter.
Walker scored seven in the quarter, and Hebert and Jessup each scored six as the Thunder hung 21 points on the board.
Walker, who also had a couple of steals and a couple of blocks, passed out seven assists in the win.
Berlin was led by Rebecca Madsen, who scored 10 points – six in the fourth quarter – and collected 11 rebounds.
After the brief non-league respite, Taconic returns to Suburban Division play next Tuesday when it visits Monson.
