Orioles return to semis
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SOUTH DEERFIELD - The Belchertown girls basketball team's mantra for this season actually began last year.
After knocking off Commerce in the 2009 quarterfinals of the Western Massachusetts Division 2 Tournament, the Orioles all sang together on the ride home, celebrating their upcoming trip to the Curry Hicks Cage for the semifinals.
"We going to the Cage! What? We going to the Cage! What?" they chanted.
After last season's heartbreaking last-second semifinal loss to Wahconah, the Orioles have turned that cheer into motivation to get back to UMass.
"Once you've been to the Cage, it makes you want to get there again even more," said forward Olivia Pare, who finished with 10 points and five rebounds. "It's my senior year and we all want a championship. That's what we're playing for and that's why we played well" Thursday.
No. 7 Belchertown punched its ticket to the semifinals again this season with a 55-38 win over No. 2 Frontier Regional in a game that was much closer than the final score would indicate.
"We've wanted to go back to the Cage since the semifinals last year when we lost. The way we lost, there wasn't a lot of closure on how we felt we should have won or lost," said Orioles forward Brianna Del Valle, referring to the Warriors drawing a foul with no time left in a tie game. "So it's really been a big motivation for us. We've wanted it. We've talked about it and we have a song about going to the Cage."
The Red Hawks took a 24-21 lead into halftime, but Del Valle put the Orioles (15-7) on her back, and in control of the game, with a dominating third quarter.
Del Valle scored 12 of her 21 points in the third as Belchertown enjoyed a 16-8 advantage in the quarter. The junior also had 14 rebounds and four blocks in the win.
"We played good defense. In the end, generally the rule in tournament games is that the team with the best player wins. When the player in a post player, it makes their life a lot easier," said Frontier coach Ralph Loos.
Belchertown "did a good job spreading the floor and getting her the ball. I probably should have gone to the 2-3 (zone) earlier," he added. "We've just been so good against post players. I think that's the (second) post player to score double digits against us in two years. Post players just don't hurt us. Maybe I was a little cocky about that."
The Orioles iced the game in the fourth quarter behind junior forward Katherine Goodale, who made seven free throws in the frame and finished 9-of-10 from the line with 21 points and eight rebounds.
Goodale "is our best free-throw shooter by far," Belchertown coach Jason Woodcock said. "We wanted her to have the ball and she didn't let them back into the game."
Woodcock credited his team's tough schedule, playing in the Bi-County East and scheduling non-league games against defending Division 2 champion Monument Mountain (16-5) and Division 3 superpower Lee (20-1), for his team's strong play Thursday.
"This is our 22nd game and our 15th against a team in the tournament," he said. "I schedule tough independent games because I figure you might lose a few seeds, but it tests you. We are battle-tested and I think you could see that in the second half. Not to take anything away from (Frontier). They played great, but our girls have been there, done that. They don't let anything get them down."
Belchertown will play No. 3 Monument in the semifinals at the Cage on a date to be announced. The Cage is slated to host semifinal games Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday next week.
Those teams squared off in Great Barrington on Feb. 12, with the Spartans earning a 48-41 win despite a career-high 26 points by Del Valle.
In Thursday's game, Frontier, the Franklin South cochampion, jumped ahead in the second quarter behind guard Kristin Calvo's deep shooting. The junior knocked down three 3-pointers and another deep two-pointer in the half as the Red Hawks (18-3) took a 24-21 lead at halftime.
Calvo finished with a team-high 13 points and three steals, while Mel Stier added nine points for Frontier.
Belchertown's 55 points were the most allowed by the normally stingy Frontier defense this year.
"We knew going (into the season) that our backcourt, Shauna (Leblanc) and Alexis (Stockwell) especially, were untested as JV players last year," Woodcock said. "But they've improved so much as we've worked all year.
"We've worked so much on press-breaking that the girls are sick of it," he added. "It's day after day after day so they know what they are doing in big games. They played really well when it mattered most."
The loss marked the final contest for Frontier senior forward Lacie Judge, who had seven rebounds in her last game.
The Red Hawks, who won one game in the 2007-08 season, have won 29 in two years combined under Loos.
"If I felt the better team won this game, they are a good team, but if I honestly felt we weren't the better team, it would be different," Loos said. "It hurts because a lot of people have shown a lot of disrespect toward our team this year. In the end, we were the better team until we sort of fell apart a little bit.
"We only have one senior and right now all I care about is that it's tough for her to end and not be at the Cage. That's what we've talked about all year long," he added. "I think they earned that right, but (Thursday) they didn't put the ball in the basket enough in the second half and I didn't make the adjustment as quickly as I should have."
