Falcons bounce back to play at Cage
1
2
3
4
AMHERST - Lindsay Gondek could hardly believe her ears at the first practice of the 2008-09 season.
First-year coach Ted Wilcox had taken over the Smith Academy girls basketball program that year and the Falcons were coming off a 1-19 season.
Still, he walked in the door and told his team that his goal was to make the postseason after the team had won just four games combined in the prior two years.
Two years later, Smith has won a pair of Franklin South titles and reached Saturday's Western Massachusetts Division 3 Tournament final, where it gave perennial powerhouse Lee all it could handle in a thrilling 60-56 overtime loss.
"I never thought this would happen (three years ago). Not at all," Gondek said. "Even last year, before the season, coach told us that our goal was to make tournament. I was like, #Are you crazy?'
"This year, we wanted to make tournament and make it to the Cage," she added. "We achieved our goal. To get to the (final) is just an awesome feeling. I never would have thought that I'd play at the Cage at some point in my career. It's just awesome to play here."
Gondek made the most of her final tournament run, with a pair of clutch free throws in the Falcons' 62-57 quarterfinal win over McCann Tech on Feb. 25 to get to the Cage.
She then went coast-to-coast in Tuesday's semifinal for a buzzer-beating game-winning layup in Smith's 45-43 victory.
If the Falcons had knocked off Lee, Gondek again would have been one of the heroes after the senior guard knocked down two pressure-packed free throws with 49.3 seconds left to give her team a 49-46 lead.
"I knew how big they were, but I was trying not to think about it," she said. "I did the same as every foul shot, just try to be smooth, use muscle memory and put it in."
Wilcox said, "She was clutch again. I can't say enough about the kind of player she is."
SMITH SENIORS - The loss marked the final high school game for Falcons seniors Abeni Davies, Steph Slysz, Katie Yarrows and Gondek who finished with 751 career points.
GOOD DAY FOR EAST LONGMEADOW - The East Longmeadow girls basketball warm-up shirts read "This is Sparta."
On Saturday, the Curry Hicks Cage turned into Sparta for a few hours.
First the girls team knocked off top seed Amherst Regional 45-39 in the Division 1 final, then the boys team defeated Westfield 79-65 in the last game of the day.
ONE REMAINING UNBEATEN - Two teams walked into the Curry Hicks Cage undefeated Saturday. One left that way.
While Amherst Regional suffered its first loss of the season to East Longmeadow in the Division 1 final, Palmer remained unblemished with a 55-32 victory over defending champion Monument Mountain in the Division 2 final.
The Panthers, who have posted back-to-back 20-0 regular seasons, will play central Massachusetts champion Millbury (19-4) in the state semifinals at the MassMutual Center in Springfield on Wednesday night.
CHAMPION vs. CHAMPION - The boys Division 2 title game between Hoosac Valley and Sabis was a rare battle between defending western Massachusetts champions.
The Hurricanes won the Division 2 tournament last year, while the Bulldogs earned the Division 3 trophy before moving up this year as a result of realignment.
On Saturday, Sabis earned a 70-57 victory.
Both teams returned their big guns from last season and they were on display Saturday as Bulldogs senior guard Andre King (26 points) and sophomore guard Kamali Bey (16) combined for 42 points, while Hoosac senior forward Robbie Burke had 34 points and 18 rebounds.
INJURED CRUSADER - The St. Joseph-Central of Pittsfield boys basketball title hopes came crashing down in an ugly injury on Saturday afternoon.
The Crusaders trailed New Leadership 40-36 early in the third quarter when senior Dan Joslyn was hurt on a collision going for a loose ball. He suffered a dislocated knee and the game was delayed 30 minutes while staff waited for an ambulance to take him to Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton.
With Joslyn out, the rest of the game belonged to the Wildcats, who earned an 83-56 victory.
Despite playing just 16 seconds of the second half, Joslyn still tied for his team lead with 16 points.
CONTE HEADS BASEBALL - Lou Conte, the Agawam athletic director and western Massachusetts boys and girls basketball tournament director, will also run the sectional baseball tournament this year.
Conte took over after the death of long-time director Tom Ford last summer. Ford was the boys and girls soccer, boys and girls basketball and baseball tournament director before he died in July.
Jim Pignatiello can be reached at jpignatiello@gazettenet.com.
