Hoosac Valley Girls Reach State Quarter-Final
CHESHIRE, Mass. – It was not the biggest shot in terms of the score, but Maryn Cappiello’s 3-pointer was arguably the biggest bucket of the night on Monday.
Cappiello scored the final points of the Hoosac Valley girls basketball team’s 61-32 win over Westport to advance to the Division 5 State Quarter-Finals.
The game was decided long before she knocked down the 3 from the left wing. It was even decided before the senior entered the game.
Still, her first points since Jan. 22 provided a big lift for her, her teammates and their fans.
“It felt really good,” said Cappiello, who has been battling an injury to her anterior cruciate ligament. “I’m just happy all my teammates are all working really well with me and trying to get me the ball. I’m just so happy I could get it.
Cappiello said it’s been “very frustrating” to have to sit and watch most of the games down the stretch in her senior season.
“But I’m really lucky that my team is just supporting me throughout.”
And the second-seeded Hurricanes have been winning throughout as they try to defend their 2024 state title.
Ashlyn Lesure led the way with 22 points, six rebounds and two assists as Hoosac Valley (20-3) won its 14th straight game and sixth in a row – including three Western Mass games and two state tournament games – by at least a 29-point margin.
The Hurricanes have one more home game left this season, against the winner of Wednesday’s Sweet 16 game between seventh-seeded Douglas and No. 10 Narragansett Regional. If the Canes win that one, it is on to the Final Four for the fourth straight year since the statewide tournament began in the 2021-22 school year.
It was just a two-point lead after one quarter on Monday as Westport center Jenna Egbe (14 points, 18 rebounds) helped the Wildcats stick around with seven first-quarter points.
Egbe then scored her team’s first points of the second quarter to trim the deficit to one at 14-13.
But Hoosac Valley mounted a 13-2- run to take control of the game.
Reagan Shea got things started with a free throw, and Lesure knocked down a 3 to make it 18-13. Then Lesure made a steal in Hoosac Valley’s press and set up Sophie Wilson (12 points, seven rebounds, two assists) to make it a seven-point lead.
Genevieve Lagess (10 points, seven rebounds) scored five points during the run, including the last two in transition to make it 27-15.
Hoosac Valley went on to a 29-19 lead at half-time.
A 10-0 run early in the second half effectively put the game out of reach.
Emma Meczywor (eight points) started things with a triple assisted by Wilson and ended it with an and-one to put the Hurricanes up, 41-21.
The Wildcats briefly got within 15, but Lesure finished the quarter with a 3-pointer and a putback to make it a 20-point lead again going to the fourth, and Westport never again threatened to make a game of it.
Although the lead was double digits throughout the second half, it was still the narrowest margin Hoosac has allowed since a 56-53 win over South Hadley, the No. 3 seed in Division 3, back on Feb. 3.
Hoosac Valley coach Jon Frederick indicated the thought Westport challenged his team a little, and it responded.
“The score was a little lopsided, but I think they got to 10 at the half and it was close early on,” Frederick said. “It wasn’t totally out of control. It wasn’t 30 points going into the fourth quarter. So I’m happy with what they did.
“I expected more of a press out of them. They kind of laid off a little bit. I expected maybe to go to man in the fourth quarter, and they didn’t change up what they were doing. … But it is what it is. We’re ready. We’ll move on. And it’s good to be the first one in [the quarter-finals].”
It also was good to see Cappiello’s hard work pay off in the closing moments of the game.
“Ever since [she was injured] late in the Pittsfield game, we weren’t sure where she was going to be at,” he said. “But Maryn’s been a trooper. She’s been going through PT. She got cleared I think, about two weeks after she was diagnosed with the ACL tear, and long as she could handle the pain … it didn’t do any more damage out there.
“So we put her out there, I think it was Senior NIght against South Hadley. She got a couple of minutes and she felt something pop again. … She still goes to PT. She still comes to practice. … We’ve been trying to get her a bucket the last couple of games, late in the game. For her to make that one was awesome, and hopefully we can get her one or two more down the road.”