Red Raiders fade in second half
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WESTHAMPTON - It was hard to recognize the first- and second-half versions of the Hampshire Regional girls basketball team as the same squad Tuesday night.
The pre-halftime edition had an answer for everything Sabis threw at it, dominated the glass and looked ready to make a deep run in the postseason.
The post-halftime version was turnover prone, pushed around in the paint and overwhelmed.
In the end, the Red Raiders' outstanding first half wasn't enough to overcome the major deficiencies of the second and Sabis pulled off a 53-44 come-from-behind victory.
"We went into the locker room (at halftime) and told them that (Sabis) is a good team and they were going to come at us hard," Hampshire coach Desi Vega said. "We had to be prepared. They changed the tempo of the game. We didn't match it. We didn't hit our free throws and we didn't rebound as well in the second half."
Hampshire (11-5) led 26-10 at halftime and pushed the advantage to 33-16 with 3 minutes, 50 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
But Sabis (14-2) took over from there, quickly getting back into the game with a 10-1 run behind five points from junior forward Taevosha Rentas. When Arianna Garcia knocked down a 3-pointer from the left side with 5.9 seconds left in the third period, the Bulldogs got within six points for the first time since trailing 5-0 in the first quarter.
"We got caught up in everything," Hampshire junior Margo McCarthy said. "We needed to slow everything down and bring it back to our pace and we never did."
The Bulldogs, who created 11 third-quarter turnovers, kept the momentum going in the fourth and finally took the lead with 3:57 remaining when Alexis Chappell scored from the post for a 40-39 advantage.
After another Hampshire turnover, Garcia knocked down a 3-pointer from the top of the key.
The Red Raiders had their chances to get back into the game, but they struggled mightily from the free-throw line down the stretch and Sabis never relinquished the lead.
Moussette, who had a game-high 22 points and five assists, shot 11-for-13 on free throws, but the rest of the Hampshire squad was 2-for-17 and missed the front end of numerous one-and-ones.
The poor foul shooting was key, Vega said. "That really hurt us."
Sarah Kober added nine points and 19 rebounds for the Raiders.
Garcia led the Bulldogs with 15 points, while Rentas and Chappell had nine each.
It was a completely different game in the first half, as the Hampshire defense created 16 turnovers and did not allow a field goal until 11:02 into the game. The Red Raiders led 14-2 after the first quarter and pushed the advantage to 16 at halftime.
"It's a learning experience. When we get into the tournament, we are going to face a lot of pressure," Vega said. "We have to learn from it and we have to get better at keeping our composure."
Hampshire does not have time to dwell on its loss, as it hosts Easthampton today in a girls and boys doubleheader. The girls play at 5:30 p.m. against former Red Raiders coach Jay Fortier, who led the program to five western Massachusetts titles and two state championships.
"We're going to come out hard (today) and play our best," McCarthy said. "We'll forget about this game and move on."
Jim Pignatiello can be reached at jpignatiello@gazettenet.com. For more coverage, including a high school sports blog, go to www.gazettenet.com/hs-sports.
