Pittsfield Holds Off Longmeadow Late to Stay Unbeaten

PITTSFIELD, Mass. – Playing its third game in fewer than 72 hours, the Pittsfield girls basketball team had to dig deep to preserve a 70-56 win over Longmeadow on Tuesday night.

 

The Generals (4-0) led most of the night by double digits but found themselves on the wrong end of a fourth-quarter run that trimmed their lead to eight points with about four minutes left to play.

 

But Pittsfield held the Lancers to one point over the next three minutes and built its lead back to 68-53 on Harolyn Castillo’s and-one with 1 minute, 3 seconds on the clock to put the game away.

 

“I told the girls … ‘You’ve got to play defense,’ “ Pittsfield coach Kristy Conyers said. “Offense will come, but you’ve got to play defense. Get steals and make layups.

 

“I mean, at one point in the first half, we had three offensive rebounds because we missed three layups in a row. But you have to grind it out on defense, even when you’re tired. Grind it out. We had an OT game the other day, and they grinded it out in OT.”

 

That overtime win on Monday came on the first of two trips to Amsterdam, N.Y.

 

After a second straight late night bus ride back to the Berkshires, Pittsfield was ready for the Lancers.

 

“It feels great to win three in a row,” said a visibly spent Harolyn Castillo, one of four players in double figures for the Generals with 14 points.

 

Kyana Summers had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Asia Smith-Moody scored a game-high 19 points, and Caprese Conyers matched Castillo with 14 points.

 

Longmeadow hung tough in the early going, taking an 11-9 lead on a bucket from Laura Minardi midway through the first quarter.

 

Coming out of a Pittsfield timeout, the Generals mounted a 17-2 run that spanned the first and second quarters and established a 26-13 lead when Smith-Moody scored in transition off a Longmeadow turnover.

 

“Asia has been playing well since the season started,” coach Conyers said. “She’s been consistent. That confidence is there, and that’s what we need: for her to have that confidence.”

 

One of Smith-Moody’s five 3-pointers helped the Generals close the first half with a 6-3 spurt to take a 34-19 lead into the locker room.

 

And it was a 14-point margin heading to the fourth after Smith-Moody set up Bre’jai Ellerbee (eight points, eight rebounds) in the closing seconds of the third quarter.

 

The visitors’ Kendall Broughton (10 points) hit a 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter to help her team find its offensive footing.

 

A few minutes later, she hit a jumper in transition to close Longmeadow to within 60-52 with four minutes left to play.

 

But Pittsfield forced two turnovers, including one out of the press by Caprese Conyers, to outscore Longmeadow, 8-1 over the next three minutes.

 

First, Ellerbee drove the left wing and got to the line, hitting one of her two free throws.

 

After the teams traded empty possessions, Smith-Moody knocked down a triple with an assist from Summers to make it 64-52.

 

The Lancers then made a free throw at the other end. But Smith-Moody got to the line and made one, and Castillo drove the lane for a conventional three-point play that made it a 15-point margin with just more than a minute left.

 

Coach Conyers indicated that her team was tired after getting back to town at 11 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday nights. But she was not about to use the schedule as an excuse for her team to let up against a Valley League opponent.

 

“I let the girls know, ‘No excuses,’ “ she said. ‘Even though it’s the third game, third night in a row, still no excuses. You got to come out and play a basketball game.

 

“I think it helps with our fitness having three games in a row. But it still stunk having the gaps we had – playing the 19th and then not until the 28th, two games in New York, getting back at 11 o’clock at night. But, again, I’m a coach who says no excuses. You’ve got to play.”

 

Pittsfield (4-0) next plays on Friday night, back in Moynihan Field House against Drury.