Pittsfield Girls Rally Past Lenox
PITTSFIELD, Mass. -- The Pittsfield girls basketball team Monday used a 20-0 run that spanned the third and fourth quarters to break open a two-point game and go on to a 44-20 win over Lenox.
The Generals got 12 points from Jordyn Lummus, eight rebounds from Emma King and five steals from Natasha Shade.
They also got a major wakeup call when Lenox’s Anna Najimy took a pass from Nicole Gamberoni at the elbow and knocked down a shot to make it 18-17 midway through the third.
“Both teams were getting good looks,” Pittsfield coach Joe Racicot said of the game, which the Generals led, 16-8, at half-time. “It was just a matter of converting some shots. There were a lot of great opportunities in the first half.
“I think what woke us up was they got within two points. And they were working hard. Sometimes, when you look at the scores of the other games [Lenox] plays in, now you know why. They make you play ugly. And that’s what happened for probably three quarters of the game.”
Shade hit a mid-range jumper to break Lenox’s 9-2 run to open the second half and give Pittsfield a 20-17 lead. And after Najimy was fouled in the post and made one to make it a two-point game, neither side could score for a minute.
But with 54 seconds left in the third, Lummus knocked down a 3-pointer. One trip later, Shade, (11 points) hit a deep 2, and the Generals led, 25-18, going to the fourth.
Pittsfield scored the first 13 points of the quarter to put the game away, capping the knockout run when Lexi Garvey (11 points) scored in the post with 2:03 left to play to make it 40-18.
Lenox coach Mike Nykorchuck said bench depth was a factor in the Millionaires running out of steam in the fourth quarter. An already short Lenox bench was down to three players with an injury to junior Amelia Reis, and three of the Millionaires in uniform Monday were battling the flu.
Lenox also is battling a brutal stretch of games against Berkshire County North Division foes.
“We had PHS calling timeouts in the third quarter,” Nykorchuck said, pointing to the positives his South Division squad could take away from the loss. “Like I just told [my players,] there’s not many Division 4 tournament teams that are playing PHS away and are down by one point in the third quarter or down by two points in the third quarter at Wahconah.
“Our stretch right now is Wahconah twice, Hoosac, Taconic, Pittsfield. Tell me another Division 4 team besides Lee that’s going to have that stretch. As discouraging as it can be, we keep our eye on the Southern games and the Western Mass tournament. Last year we made it in [with a 6-14 record].”
Pittsfield also made it in and went to the Western Mass Division 2 semi-finals a year ago. This year, the Generals are 5-3 and facing two road games against South foes this week: at Drury Tuesday and at Lee on Friday.
Lenox (2-6) goes to Monument Mountain on Jan. 14.