Hoosac Valley Unified Basketball Debuts at Wahconah
DALTON, Mass. – Berkshire County became a little more Unified on Wednesday as the new cooperative Hoosac Valley-Drury Unified Basketball team tipped off its inaugural season.
Donnie Cusson scored the game’s first points and went on to score 14 for Hoosac Valley in a 44-35 loss at Wahconah.
The addition of the Hurricanes gives the county league six teams: Hoosac/Drury, Mount Greylock, Wahconah, Pittsfield, Lenox and Monument Mountain/Lee.
Unified sports, an initiative of Special Olympics, allows students with intellectual disabilities to compete side-by-side with their schoolmates without intellectual disabilities.
The more experienced Wahconah team, one of the trailblazers in the region, got 18 points, including two 3-pointers, from veteran Sam Iovieno to open its season with a win.
But the Hoosac Valley athletes, many new to the sport altogether, were winners nevertheless.
“We’ve got a lot of kids out here, which is nice, and kids that are really invested in trying to bring Unified to both Drury and Hoosac,” Hoosac Valley coach Danielle Racette said. “So it’s been a lot of fun.”
Racette, a 1,000-point scorer and Berkshire County High School Girls Basketball Hall of Fame inductee at Drury, looked a little different sporting Hoosac Valley red and white on the sideline, but it was a day for trying new things.
“The majority of our players have not played basketball before, but we’re learning as we go,” she said. “Some of them do have some experience. Others not as much, but we’re learning, and we’ve had a good process so far.”
After Cusson scored off the opening tip, Wahconah went on an 11-0 run started by an Iovieno 3-pointer to take a nine-point lead.
From there, the teams traded baskets until the midway point of the second quarter, when Hoosac Valley went on a 19-2 run that spanned the first and second half and gave the Hurricanes a 23-19 lead.
Alex St. Hillaire and Dominic Schipper (eight points) scored to start the run, and Cameron Saunders sank a 3-pointer just before half-time to get the Hurricanes within eight at 19-11.
Hoosac Valley then scored the first 12 points of the second half – 10 from Cusson – to take the lead.
Wahconah’s Grayson LaSage snapped the run with a bucket, and Trace Lyman scored to tie it, 23-23.
Hoosac Valley pulled ahead again by four, but Wahconah mounted a 14-point run that ended on another Lyman bucket to give the hosts a 37-27 lead.
The Hurricanes got within four points with 2 minutes, 40 seconds left, but Iovieno hit a triple and scored in transition to stretch the margin to nine, which is where it ended.
Wahconah is off until Oct. 10 when it goes to Lenox.
Hoosac Valley will play its home opener on Oct. 8 against Monument Mountain.
Photos from this game to come.