Micalyn Mailloux spent much of Wednesday night’s girls basketball game fighting through foul trouble.
The Mahar Regional School sophomore guard had six points through three quarters against Belchertown High School and her Senators trailed 42-40 entering the fourth quarter. Her struggles came to an end over the final eight minutes as she erupted for 15 points and helped the Senators to a 61-51 victory on Senior Night at Grzesik-Bixby Gymnasium in Orange.
The teams battled throughout much of the fourth quarter before Mahar finally pulled away in the final two minutes. With the Senators leading by four with just over two minutes to play, senior Tori Tenney stole the ball at the top of the defensive key and went the distance to score a layup and put Mahar up six. After a defensive stand on the ensuing Belchertown possession, the hosts went down the floor and Mailloux drilled a 3-pointer to put Mahar up nine points with 1 minute, 40 seconds to play.
Tenney had a big performance in the win with 5 points, 12 rebounds and seven steals. It was players like Tenney who stepped up for the Senators, who played long stretches without their top scorer Mailloux, who averages 15.6 points per game (fourth in the area).
“The times that we are playing well, we are using most everyone,” Mahar coach Larry Fisher said. “This was a playoff atmosphere, tonight.”
As for Mailloux, Fisher said he was proud of the way she handled the adversity.
“She is maturing very nicely,” he began. “When she got into foul trouble in the first half, she started to show some emotions, but she got over it very quickly and played a heck of a second half.”
Mahar also did a good job on Belchertown leading scorer Elise Pikul, who finished with just four points. Delaney Parker and Abby Bonk were responsible for playing man-to-man on her.
Jazmyn Vautour finished with 13 points for the Senators, and Bonk hit three 3-pointers to finish with 9 points. Courtney Page chipped in 6 points.
Mahar seniors Vautour, Tenney, Bonk, Sophia Apteker and Sarah Graeff were determined to close out their careers with a win on their home court.
“They just seemed like they really wanted it,” Fisher said. “They wanted to win on their senior night in their gym and it worked out well.”
Mahar closes out the regular season Monday night at Greenfield High School.
Turners 58, Hopkins 52 — Look out for Turners Falls.
The late-charging Thunder picked up their fifth consecutive victory and pushed Hopkins Academy to the brink of tournament elimination with a 58-52 victory Wednesday night in Turners Falls.
Turners (11-8) was 6-8 after a 64-60 loss to Greenfield on Jan. 25 and the thought of the postseason seemed well off in the distance. Since that time, the Thunder have reeled off five straight wins, picking up a pair of wins over tournament-bound teams, and now making life very difficult for the Golden Hawks (8-10), who need to win their final two games of the season to get into the tournament.
“Honestly, it’s addition by subtraction,” Turners Falls coach Gary Mullins said of the recent success. “It’s also been a learning process. Ryan Campbell, Jeremiah Russell, it’s their first time playing basketball in a couple of years and I needed to learn what they could do and coach to strengths. We’ve faced a lot of adversity this year. The first five games, we had five players in street clothes. But we are hitting a few right buttons here, down the stretch.”
While Turners Falls is firmly entrenched in the WMass Division 4 playoff field as it heads into its final game Friday night at Hampshire League South-leading Pioneer, things are not so great for Hopkins, which must defeat Belchertown and Pioneer in its final two games in order to qualify.
Hopkins played like a desperate team in the second half against the Thunder. Turners took a 30-17 lead into the break but Hopkins picked up its play in the second half as sharpshooter Andrew Ciaglo came to life. After taking just five shots in the first half and scoring six points, Ciaglo heated up and poured in 23 points in the second half to pull the Hawks back into the game. The teams both scored 18 points in the third quarter, and Hopkins outscored the Thunder by seven points in the fourth to close the gap to single digits.
“We talked about it at halftime. We said, ‘He’s going to come, he’s a very talented player, a good kid with a good attitude,’” Mullins said. “We knew they were going to go to him and he did a terrific job and kept them in it. We just made some plays down the stretch. That’s the thing we’ve done the last four or five games. We are making plays to win basketball games.”
Anthony Peterson had a double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds in the win, while Tyler Lavin finished with 11 points, six rebounds and six dimes. Jeremiah Russell added 10 points, Chace Novak finished with 7 points, and Ryan Campbell and Jaden Whiting each chipped in with 6 points.
It was Senior Night for Turners as Lavin, Russell, Kyle Dodge, Bryce Waldron and Nester Rodriguez each played their final regular-season home game.
Turners 58, Hopkins 52
Hopkins (52)
Waldron 1-0—3, Beck 1-0—2, Ciaglo 8-9—29, Graves 2-4—8, Tudryn 1-0—3, Antes 2-3—7. Totals 15-16—52.
Turners (58)
Lavin 5-0—11, Campbell 2-2—6, Russell 4-0—10, Dodge 1-0—2, Rodriguez 1-0—2, Whiting 2-0—6, Novak 2-2—7, Peterson 5-4—14, Waldron, Duclos. Totals: 22-8—58.
3-Point Goals: (H) Ciaglo 4, Waldron, Tudryn. (TF) Lavin, Russell 2, Whiting 2, Novak.
Score by quarters:
|
Hopkins |
7 |
10 |
18 |
17 |
— |
52 |
|
Turners |
13 |
17 |
18 |
10 |
— |
58 |
Girls Game
Mahar 61, Belchertown 51
Belchertown (51)
Leblanc 3-1—9, Pikul 2-0—4, Leja 6-2—17, Dugger 1-4—6, Troy 0-1—1, Birks 4-1—12, Laflamme 1-0—2. Totals 17-10—51.
Mahar (61)
Parker 1-0—3, Tenney 2-0—5, Mailloux 7-3—21, Apteker 1-0—2, Davis 1-0—2, Page 1-4—6, Bonk 3-0—9, Vautour 5-0—13, Fournier, Graeff, Prescott. Totals: 21-7—61.
3-Point Goals: (B) Leja 3, Birks 3, Leblanc 2. (M) Mailloux 4, Bonk 3, Vautour 3, Parker, Tenney.
Score by quarters:
|
Belchertown |
11 |
16 |
15 |
9 |
— |
51 |
|
Mahar |
14 |
12 |
14 |
21 |
— |
61 |