Hurricanes Going Back to State Title Game
WEST SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – As good as the Hoosac Valley basketball team has been this winter, there are always things the Hurricanes can be learning.
And in Tuesday’s Division 5 State Semi-Final, Hurricanes coach Jon Frederick sent a message to one of his starters, and that message was received.
Reagan Shea hit four 3-pointers in a 55-39 win over Maynard to send the reigning state champions back to this weekend’s title game at the Tsongas Center in Lowell.
But first, Shea spent a little time next to Frederick.
“She gets in her head a little bit, unfortunately,” Frederick said. “And I kind of saw that a little in the first half. I sat her down. A little bit of jitters, nerves, lazy passes, and we know she’s better than that.
“A little wakeup call on the bench seems to work out good sometimes.”
Everything worked out for the Hurricanes in the Final Four as they earned a berth in the championship game against the winner of Wednesday’s semi-final between Lee and Renaissance
The Hurricanes are back in the state finals for the fifth time in six seasons and will be looking for their fourth state crown in that span, including a shared title in the 2020 when the state finals were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Tuesday night at West Springfield High School, Shea’s first triple came in the middle of a 15-1 run that opened a 21-9 lead for the Hurricanes midway through the second quarter.
The run started with seven straight points from Ashlyn Lesure (17 points, five rebounds, three assists).
Her putback erased Maynard’s last lead and tied the game, 8-8. She then drove the lane twice to give the ‘Canes a 12-8 lead and, after the Tigers made a free throw at the other end, drove the baseline and got to the line herself, converting one to give Hoosac Valley a 13-9 lead going to the second quarter.
Shea started the second quarter with a triple, and Giana Witek followed with a 3 assisted by Genevieve Lagess (13 points, seven rebounds) to give Hoosac Valley its first double-digit lead at 19-9. A pair of Lagess free throws capped the run.
Maynard settled down from there and more or less played the Hurricanes even the rest of the way but could never get closer than eight points the rest of the night.
Shannon Kelly scored 11 points, and Leah Rivers-Wright added 10 for the Tigers, who got 16 rebounds from Kathryn Stachowicz.
Hoosac Valley’s Emma Meczywor had a game-high 18 boards to go with eight points and a couple of assists.
Whoever the Hurricanes meet in the state final, it will be a team that the Hurricanes have some recent post-season experience against.
The Lee Wildcats played Hoosac Valley in the inaugural Western Massachusetts Class D final in 2022, the first year of the statewide tournament format. The Hurricanes won that game and went on to reach the state championship game before losing in Lowell.
Renaissance has more recent history against Hoosac, dropping a 57-49 decision to the Hurricanes in the state semi-final round a year ago.
On Tuesday evening, Frederick was not taking a lot of time to think about how the weekend might go.
“This is the one, for me, this was the one,” Frederick said. “This was the game. The next one … sure, we want to win it. But to get there back-to-back and have a chance to see what we can do, I’ll take it.
“Obviously, we want to win. We’re going to put our best foot forward, But for them, to me, all the pressure was on this game. I wanted them to get there. This is it.”