BELCHERTOWN - The basket kept getting smaller and further away for Brianna Del Valle. It was a good thing the senior forward had halftime to regroup.

Del Valle struggled in the first half but broke open in the second to lead the Belchertown girls basketball team to a 51-35 first-round victory over Mount Greylock in the Western Massachusetts Division 2 Tournament.

"When I started missing, (the hoop) kept getting further away, further away, further away," Del Valle said. "It was difficult and it got in my head."

Del Valle had eight points and nine rebounds in the first half but she missed a lot of layups and was 0-for-4 from the free throw line.

"I had a slow start - it was just one of those days," Del Valle said. "Nothing was falling and I was taking not enough time to take my shots and I wasn't setting up. I was just throwing the ball up there."

Del Valle finished with 22 points, 15 rebounds, three steals and one block. Olivia Pare (11 points) and Del Valle combined for 22 second-half points as Belchertown pulled away from a one-point halftime lead.

Del Valle's "a complete player," Belchertown coach Jay Woodcock said. "She knows we look to her to lead the offense and sometimes I think she internalizes it a lot. At halftime we talked and she responded big time."

Seventh-seeded Belchertown (14-7) will play No. 2 Frontier Regional (18-2) at 7 p.m. Thursday in the quarterfinal round in South Deerfield.

The 10th-seeded Mounties finished its season 12-9. This is the third straight year that Mount Greylock lost in the first round.

"This was not your run-of-the-mill 10 seed," Woodcock said. "These Berkshire teams are tough. They beat Drury. They beat Wahconah. I was nervous about tonight. I'm glad we got the win."

The Orioles had reason to be nervous in the first half. A slow start by Belchertown coupled with hot outside shooting gave the Mounties a 17-14 lead with six minutes, 19 seconds remaining.

The Orioles came back and took a 20-19 lead at halftime as Lauren Belanger hit two jumpers and Britiany Browning scored inside.

"Once you get a lead you feel a lot more comfortable on the court," Del Valle said. "You can make a mistake and it's not a big cost to the team."

Belchertown opened the third with its 1-3-1 press and played tight man-to-man defense on the Mounties' shooters. The Orioles went on a 9-0 run to take a 29-19 lead.

The defense then held Greylock to five second-half field goals.

"We knew they weren't very deep and we knew we could tire them out," Woodcock said. "We tried to vary our 1-3-1 and play a little man. The plan was to come out in the second half and press and see if we can separate from them and it worked. The girls played very well and the team defense was incredible."

Pare had eight points in the second half while Katherine Goodale added all seven of her points after halftime.

Mike Moran can be reached at mmoran@gazettenet.com. For more coverage, including a high school sports blog, go to www.gazettenet.com/hs-sports.