Hoosac Valley Returns to Final Four
CHESHIRE, Mass. – The Hoosac Valley girls basketball team is going back to the state semi-finals for the sixth straight season.
Emma Meczywor scored 17 points, and Ashlyn Lesure scored 14 Friday as the 2024 Division 5 State Champions beat Douglas, 52-40, to advance to the Final Four.
It is the fourth straight time since the statewide tournament began in 2022 that the Hurricanes have made it at least to the semi-finals. Hoosac Valley was a co-state champion after winning in the Final Four in the COVID-shortened 2020 season and won the title in 2019. There was no state tournament in 2021.
Lesure, who also passed out five assists and blocked a couple of shots in Hoosac Valley’s 15th straight win, said that the program’s legacy of success is an extra motivator.
“It feels great,” the senior said after Hoosac Valley (21-3) received its Final Four trophy. “I think we definitely feel the pressure, especially our younger players, but I think we like that pressure. I think that’s what gives us our momentum.”
It took a while to get the momentum going on Friday night.
Seventh-seeded Douglas was able to hang around in the first quarter, and Lexie Thibault scored the first bucket of the second for the Tigers to cut their deficit to 11-9.
But Meczywor hit a pull-up jumper in the lane to start a 16-3 run for Hoosac Valley.
The Hurricanes cranked up their defense in the second quarter, forcing 14 Douglas turnovers.
And after relying on Meczywor for seven of its 11 points in the first quarter, Hoosac Valley started to get more people involved on the offensive end.
Lesure scored five second-quarter points, and Genevieve Lagess scored five of her seven.
Lesure capped the run with a baseline drive for two to make it 27-12 late in the quarter, and Hoosac Valley took a 29-15 lead into half-time.
“We’ve definitely been struggling at the start of every game we played this playoffs,” Lesure said. “And I feel like once we start getting into it and reading what [the opponent is] doing, that’s when we read the passes better and just score off of it.”
Hurricanes coach Jon Frederick said it’s less about picking up on what the other team is doing than what his team is not doing in the early stages of some games.
“Our energy was really off today for some reason,” Frederick said. “I think there were some external things going on. But I don’t think we were really focused mentally going into the game. I think it really showed, definitely in the first quarter and a little bit into the second.
“We’ve got some things we’ve got to figure out what’s going on and fix them.”
The Hurricanes were able to extend their lead in the third quarter, getting a 6-0 spurt late to briefly go up by 21.
Meczywor scored with an assist from Sophie Wilson. Then Lesure got a steal and went the other way for a lay-up. Finally, Meczwyor scored to make it 45-24.
Hoosac Valley led by 19 going to the fourth quarter when Douglas made its biggest run of the night.
Center Lily Denomme (10 points, 12 rebounds) scored six points in a 9-0 spurt, cutting the lead to 10 with a 3-pointer to make it 45-35 with 5 minutes, 22 seconds left to play.
But after having a little trouble with Douglas’ press to start the fourth quarter, Hoosac Valley ran its press break to perfection, getting a bucket by Wilson off an assist from Meczywor to snap the run. The ‘Canes then scored the next five on a Lesure 3 and a basket by Lagess to lead by 17, 52-35, with about two minutes left.
“I wasn’t so much concerned about the [Douglas] run,” Frederick said. “I think our energy was a little off in the zone. … You’re going to give up some wide open shots in the zone, and that’s what happens.
“But we wanted to try to get a little better energy back by playing the zone. And I think we went on a little run once we got that energy back.”
Hoosac Valley next week will play third-seeded Maynard on a date to be announced.