Hall Class Highlights Trailblazers for Area Programs
PITTSFIELD, Mass. – The Berkshire County Girls Basketball Hall of Fame includes athletes who helped break ground for girls and women’s sports in the region.
On Saturday, it inducted a few players who were ground-breakers for their respective high schools in a different way.
“[Emily Rosse] is one of the greatest basketball players I ever coached, boys or girls,” former Hoosac Valley coach Ron Wojcik said. “I was very, very fortunate.
“She was a catalyst, certainly, in what we were trying to build and do. Her sophomore year, Western Mass, D2 that year, she led us to the title. Great second half, hit a big shot down the stretch. Then took us to two more titles. Three Western Mass titles in four years is an awesome accomplishment.”
Rosse helped lay the foundation for an unrivaled record of success this century in Berkshire County. Since her sophomore year, the Hurricanes have gone to seven of the last eight state championship games – most recently just six days before Saturday’s Hall of Fame inductions.
She was named to the Hall of Fame’s ninth class along with Mount Greylock’s Lucy Barrett, Miss Hall School’s Grace Guachione, Pittsfield’s Courtney McLaughlin, Wahconah’s Darcy (Sullivan) Myette, Taconic’s Bridget Conry, Monument Mountain’s Erin (Carlotto) Ungewitter, Lee’s Shannon (Driscoll) Clark and Paul Crennan, currently an assistant coach at Pittsfield, who was inducted as a contributor to the game.
Like Rosse, who was the 2015 Vi Goodnow Award winner as the best girls basketball player in Western Massachusetts, Barrett and Guachione left indelible marks on their high school programs.
After just one post-season appearance in seven years for the Mounties, Barrett led Mount Greylock to back-to-back Western Mass tournament appearances in 2014 and 2015. She graduated as the school’s all-time leading scorer for boys and girls
“There’s only one other Greylock athlete in the Hall of Fame, so it’s not like we had a real history and tradition of basketball success,” said Paul Barrett, Lucy’s father and coach, who inducted her into the hall on Saturday at Proprietor’s Lodge. “This is a big shoutout to the fact that we’ve come a long way. And I like to feel like the 10 years I coached there, it was the contribution of our girls to give us a little more respect in the league.
“We just didn’t have the numbers. We had to play in the North Adams Youth Basketball League because we didn’t have enough players [in Williamstown]. Lucy had to make a deal with a soccer player who really loved soccer. She said, ‘I’ll play soccer for four years if you play basketball for four years.’ That’s what we were up against at Mount Greylock.”
While Barrett Saturday joined Mount Greylock graduate Karen Rice, a 2016 inductee into the Hall of Fame, Grace Guachione was the first player inducted from Miss Hall’s School and the first player inducted from outside the old Berkshire County League.
After scoring more than 1,900 points for the Hurricanes, Guachione went on to a successful career at St. Anselm College, where she helped the Hawks to the Elite 8 of the NCAA Division II tournament in 2019.
On Saturday, her former coach at Miss Hall’s recalled Guachione’s impact at the Pittsfield prep school.
“I think it goes without saying that Grace is Miss Hall’s basketball,” Brad Horth said. “Without her, there is no Miss Hall’s program. She led the program to New England tournaments three out of the four years she was there, which puts Miss Hall’s in the top eight across New England.
“She put in the time outside the season, after practice, in the mornings to become the best ballplayer she could become. She was unparalleled at Miss Hall’s School.”
The county’s Girls Basketball Hall of Fame was begun in 2013 by friends of former Pittsfield and Taconic coach Bob O’Neil, who died at 64 in 2012 and was enshrined as a member of the Hall’s first class one year later.
Saturday’s ceremony marked the second induction in six months. In October, the Hall of Fame recognized its Class of 2020, whose induction was canceled at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This year, the festivities fittingly moved back to March, a time known for basketball and women’s history.
One of this year’s inductees made a little local history this season when she joined the men’s basketball coaching staff at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. Courtney McLaughlin, a graduate of Pittsfield High School, also played basketball for the Trailblazers.
“Head coach Derek Shell … just loved her passion and her competitive edge,” said Pat McLaughlin, Courtney’s father and former youth basketball coach, who presented her at Saturday’s ceremony. “He loves her pragmatic and old-school edge to coaching that she has. It’s great to see – after high school, after college, she still loves the game and has a passion for it.”
Family is always a major theme at the induction ceremonies and never more so than this year, with Barrett and McLaughlin each being inducted by her dad.
And, like always, the tight-knit family that is Berkshire County basketball also was on display. Paul Barrett talked about the time he spent in gyms watching youth games with the parents of Rosse and Guachione. Clark, a former guidance counselor at Hoosac Valley, said she was happy to be inducted with Rosse, who she knew as a student at the Cheshire school.
She also was glad to join Jennifer Maloney Roosa, a member of the Hall’s Class of 2020. Roosa was a rival for Clark’s teams in their playing days and now a colleague on the faculty at Clark’s alma mater.
“She still talks about the time I had a monster block against her in my career,” Clark said. “She calls it a foul. I call it a monster block.”
And while Hall of Fame ceremonies are largely times to look back, at least one inductee on Saturday was looking ahead.
“I want to thank my family,” Myette said. “Without them, I definitely wouldn’t be here for all the years playing sports, not only basketball, but softball and soccer.
“I’m expecting a girl in June. I’m really hoping that she’ll be another athlete to follow in my footsteps.”
