Before Tuesday, the last time the Athol girls basketball team had pulled off a win against Mahar was Jan. 29, 2016.
No player on the Bear roster had picked up a win over their archrival, nor had coach Kelly Kaczmarczyk in her five-year tenure with Athol.
That all changed on Tuesday, as a full-team effort from the Bears led them to a 38-36 triumph at Mallet Gymnasium.
“It feels really good,” Kaczmarczyk said after the game. “It gives the girls more motivation. They told me they wanted to get this for me. They worked hard. It’s nice to see.”
The win snapped a nine-game losing streak against the Senators, and doing so in the season opener is a massive confidence builder for Athol.
“It’s a great start to the season,” junior Emma Bacigalupo said. “It’s our rivalry but we all know each other. The energy is so big with the rivalry and playing your friends. With it being Mahar and us beating them, it showed we can compete with anyone.”
It took a late run for the Bears to get the win, trailing 36-32 in the games final minutes before going on a 6-0 run to close things out.
The key? Communicating and making sure everyone was on the same page, something that’s not easy to do in the opening game of the season.
“We needed to talk,” Bacigalupo said. “The amount of talking we did helped us spread the floor and cover who we needed to cover. It allowed us to get shots and move the ball.”
Mahar had multiple chances to tie it late, but the Athol defense came up with stops when they needed them, not allowing the Senators to score after the Bears took the 38-36 lead.
When you’re trying to pull off a win against a team that’s had your number for five years, it takes a few bounces going your way and Athol got those late. Now the Bears feel they can do this again against other squads moving forward.
“When they were pressing, they were very tight guarding us,” Bacigalupo said. “We needed to get the pass out and there were a couple slip ups but we worked together as a team. We overcame it.”